The Thin Line Between Love And Hate
by OtherworldlyStarlight
Summary: Jareth suffers from depression and decides to find a way into Sarah's world
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:

I don't own the characters and/or worlds in this fic. Please don't sue.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer:

I don't own the characters and worlds mentioned in this fanfic. So please don't sue!

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The aos sí, older form aoes sidhe, is the Irish term for a supernatural race in Irish and Scottish mythology comparable to the fairies and elves.

They are said to live underground (...).

This world is described in the Lebor Gabála Érenn as a parallel universe (...).

\- Wikipedia

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" _If my kids ask me if fairies exist, at least now I have an answer: Not in our universe, honey, but who knows what's out there in the multiverse_?"

\- Marcelo Gleiser, Theoretical Physicist and Cosmologist, Dartmouth College

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The goblins just couldn't be quiet. Their inane laughter, inebriation and rambunctiousness was driving him insane.

More insane than he already was.

Tapping his riding crop against his thigh he tried to drown out the incessant noise unsuccessfully. "SHUT UP!", he shouted exasperated.

The noise stopped for a blissful moment while dozens of eyes stared in mild shock and confusion at their king.

Unfortunately the peace only lasted for a few short moments and the goblins carried on as if nobody had interrupted them in the first place.

He briefly considered threatening them with the Bog of Eternal Stench to achieve some semblance of respect as well as peace and quiet but quickly discarded the idea.

The truth was that he just didn't care.

He didn't care about keeping the goblins in line and being the Goblin King. Not that he had ever truly cared. He had just done what was expected of him for centuries.

For the first few decades it had been at least somewhat exciting. Exciting as far as something new could be that included ruling over misbehaved goblins and taking wished-away children.

It had never been a position he had aspired to. However it had come with status and perks. Perks being occasional balls in other kingdoms that included the acquaintance of beautiful women who were intrigued to meet the Goblin King.

When the novelty wore off he had just gone about his life as Goblin King as if nothing was bothering him. To be honest he hadn't immediately noticed how jaded he had become. But looking back his current level of boredom had started centuries ago and had only accumulated over time.

Until HER he had not realized how bad his situation had gotten.

She had woken him up.

He didn't know why her, what it was exactly about her that he adored, but he felt alive again.

When she had rejected him she had not just destroyed parts of his castle and labyrinth but also a part of him. The part that had finally felt alive. He hadn't known that he had been dead inside until she had come into his life.

The noise in his throne room rose to yet another level and he decided that he could not spend another second in the company of the goblins.

He stood abruptly and disappeared in a show of glitter only to reappear in his living quarters in front of a large window overlooking his labyrinth.

The labyrinth stretched out nearly as far as he could see. Although it was in the middle of the night, the stars and the moon illuminated the huge structure. Nothing stirred within it at this hour and it was eerily quiet from his vantage point. He shook his head, poured himself a glass of scotch which he immediately drained and refilled.

What was wrong with him?

The noise was too much and the quiet depressed him.

Sarah.

His life had been much better before she had entered it. He had been lonely but at least did not feel so utterly empty inside.

At that moment he hated her with all his being.

She had rejected him after he had offered her EVERYTHING.

She has inadvertently destroyed a large part of his labyrinth and castle. Not only by running through it and reaching him - although that had caused a lot of damage - but by throwing his offer cruelly back at him without any regard whatsoever.

The magic of her rejection had shattered his kingdom. Words had power and hers were destructive. They had weakened him. It had taken him months to get back to full strength.

He has been able to view her little victory party in his owl form only because she had invited her friends - the traitors - and somehow the magic still gave him access to her world although only in his weakest form. As soon as she had stopped thinking about his subjects he was completely unable to cross over. And Sarah had not wished for anybody in the Underground for many many Underground years.

After that night, he had been unable to cross the veil between the worlds unless a child had been wished away. He had tried to return to her if only to look at her without using a crystal but it had been futile.

He was cut off from her and was only able to see brief fragments of her in his crystals. Even they had become useless when it came to her.

Hate. Yes. He did hate her. Did he really? No. He didn't. That was the problem. She was all he could think of. The little girl had turned his world upside down and didn't even know it.

She had been so young. Way too young. She probably hadn't even understood ...

Of course she hadn't understood. Her world was so different from his. Although he visited her world occasionally when a child was wished away he didn't understand it at all. It had changed so quickly and dramatically in the past few decades. Technology was the word. Vehicles that moved without horses. Contraptions that flew in the air. Her world had no magic unlike his. Magic in Tír na nÓg, the "Underground" as humans called it, was literally in the air. Not all beings were susceptible to it and even among his people not all had the same talent in accessing it. But it was there. Her world was void. Whenever he visited he had to use whatever magic was still inside of him. Being there long enough while using magic would literally drain him.  
It wouldn't kill him but he would be not much different from a human except for his longevity and some other minor and mainly unnoticeable physical differences.

He refilled his glass again and sat at the window gazing over the labyrinth. The effects of the alcohol made him feel optimistic and hopeful even though it was only chemically induced. The distraction the drink provided was very much welcomed.

Anything to not feel the loneliness. He felt slightly happier but knew he would pay tomorrow when he would not only have a slight hangover but also feel all the emotions he was currently suppressing with a vengeance.

His glass was empty again and so was the bottle. He twisted his hand and conjured another one. What had become of him? Why was he getting drunk by himself?

A small voice inside reminded him that there was nobody to socialize with but himself.

The creatures of the labyrinth disliked him and called him a rat. What had he done to deserve to be insulted like that? But then again he knew very well why. His boredom had caused him to be cruel. He kept threatening the creatures with the stinking bog to keep them in line. The goblins were one thing. Treating them in that fashion was the only way to get any kind of respect and stop them from acting too wild.

As for the other creatures, he was guilty of teasing them on purpose. Calling them, especially that dwarf, by their wrong names was something he did to amuse himself.

So maybe he did deserve to be disliked.

His current life was unbearable. Something had to change. If he could just get Sarah to see who he truly was. But by declaring that he had no power over her he couldn't just go to her world and visit her. He was pretty much a prisoner in Tír na nÓg, his realm.

If only he could cross the veil that separated the worlds ...

In his alcohol induced haze, he remembered an ancient myth that claimed one could cross the veil between worlds once in a human year as it was a time when the veil between the worlds was thinner than usual.

It was an idea. Hope. It might work. It would take a tremendous amount of his magic but he didn't care. There was nothing left for him in Tír na nÓg.

Giving up his station as the Goblin King was out of the question. His people, the Tuatha Dé Danann would never accept a king abandoning his position unless there was a legitimate heir.

"No chance of that without a Queen", he mused.

But no respectable woman wanted to be Queen of a minor kingdom far away from the High Court with rowdy goblins as subjects.

He could however leave his world for a few hours without anybody noticing. Only giving up his position and living somewhere else in Tír na nÓg would draw the ire of his people.

Nos Galan Gaeaf, the yearly time when the veil between the worlds was thinner, was only a few days away and he would need time to prepare.

With those last thoughts, Jareth the Goblin King took one last look at the vast labyrinth lying partially obscured in the darkness, closed his eyes and began the long process of drawing in as much magic as he could.

He would need to be exceptionally strong if he wanted to open a portal to Earth on Nos Galan Gaeaf, or, as humans called it nowadays, Halloween.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note:

Pictures of characters and clothes/looks mentioned in this story can be found on my Tumblr, otherworldlystars. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

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"Earth to Sarah! Hello! Anybody home? You look like you've seen a ghost!"

Sarah blinked a couple of times and looked at her best friend Jessica.

"I thought I saw someone I knew years ago, but that's impossible," she replied.

"Who is this mystery person? Someone hot?"

"Hot? Hardly. Really annoying and obnoxious is more like it. And he's not here anyway. As I said, that's impossible," Sarah huffed.

"So it IS a 'he'! Come on, you have to tell me the story! And also, why can't he be here?"

"Jess, seriously, I don't want to talk about it. It was a long time ago and he lives abroad. He's not in New York."

"So it's not impossible then that he's here!" Jessica exclaimed.

Sarah groaned. "I'm getting another glass of wine. Be right back."

It was impossible! HE wasn't even real. It had been a nightmare she had had about ten years ago. She laughed to herself, of course it hadn't been real, the guy simply reminded her of HIM. "Don't be silly," she chided herself.

Magic didn't exist. Other worlds didn't exist. That was science fiction. "Except for the multiverse that you once read about in _Scientific American_ ," a traitorous small voice in her mind reminded her.

Still. These worlds were not proven and their existence was pure hypothesis. She also remembered reading that even if other universes existed, they were inaccessible.

There.

It had been a nightmare. Nothing more. A very realistic nightmare. "Stop it Sarah!"

The _Dark Lounge_ was known for it's gothic atmosphere which was absolutely perfect for Halloween. Instead of hollowed out pumpkins, fake spiders and spider webs, glittering chandeliers hung from the ceiling and fake candles of all shapes and sizes flickered from stone alcoves and silver candelabras.

Sarah caught a glimpse of herself in one of the many gilded mirrors that lined the walls. She had followed the dress code of the _Dark Lounge_ gladly. No actual Halloween outfits were on the list although people wearing them would not be turned away.

What was encouraged though were chic and sexy outfits that hinted just a bit at danger or the otherworldly. Most guests followed that code and enhanced it with vampire teeth or pointy ears.

She had chosen a little black dress that showed off her cleavage and strappy high black heels.

Her hair fell in loose waves around her shoulders with small parts pinned back and her only concession to Halloween was silver glitter on her eyelids and cheeks as well as some silver hair ornaments. Every since her 'nightmare' she had tried to stay away from what she considered 'silly dress-ups'.

Suddenly, she saw HIM reflected in the corner of the mirror. Except of course it wasn't really HIM but just a guy who she associated with the nightmare.

Sarah took a deep breath. "Calm down, don't be stupid," she thought to herself.

He was leaning against the wall opposite the mirror, one leg propped up against the wall and he SMIRKED at her.

Annoyed, Sarah turned around to get rid of the obnoxious man. Bad enough that he looked like her nightmare but she really could not be bothered with him trying to flirt with her.

Some part of her felt guilty since he had not really done anything bad except remind her of her nightmare but she really did not want to deal with this overly confident guy today.

Sure, he looked extremely hot leaning against the wall in his tight black pants, knee-high boots and black leather jacket ...

His hair was blonde but not light blonde, cut in a contemporary style. Shorter at the back with longer strands falling across his forehead.

He looked delicious.

"Stop it Sarah!" she reprimanded herself. "Whoever he is, regardless of who he reminds you of, he looks like a bad boy and you should stay away from that kind. They are nothing but trouble."

The stranger's smirk widened, he stalked towards her in a predatory way and invaded her personal space by putting one arm next to her head, essentially trapping her against the wall. Their eyes locked and Sarah felt like she was about to pass out as she noticed his mismatched eyes.

"Hello Precious," Jareth drawled.

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Please read and review!

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To my previous reviewers, thank you so much for dropping a line. I know it wasn't the most exciting chapter and kinda depressing. It will be an angsty fic but there will also be a true romance so bear with me.

Honoria Granger:

I know that usually not much energy is needed to pierce the veil but for my story he does need it since he has been essentially exiled from Sarah's world. If you watch Once Upon a Time, compare it how hard it is for them to travel between the worlds.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hello Precious," Jareth drawled.

Precious? What the heck was this guy thinking? Overconfident much?

"Excuse me? Whoever you are, I'm not your 'Precious'. Now, get out of my way. I'm in no mood for whatever you are trying here."

"Is that any way to speak to an old friend?" he smirked.

"I don't know you. You are not my friend and judging by how annoyed I am right now you will never be my friend. For the last time, get out of my way."

One black leather gloved hand reached out and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ears. Despite the glove Sarah shivered under his touch and could not decide whether it was a pleasant or disturbing feeling.

Definitely unpleasant she quickly concluded. How could the touch of a complete stranger - through leather nonetheless - be 'nice'.

"Maybe you remember the words 'I wish the goblins would take you away right now'?"

Sarah felt her knees go weak and her blood drain from her face. Her heart hammered in her chest.

No! Impossible. He couldn't be real. None of this was real. She was dreaming. That was the only explanation.

"Looks like you DO remember, little girl," he interrupted her thoughts. "Although you definitely are no longer a little girl." His eyes appreciatively roamed over her body and lingered for a split second on her cleavage before looking back at her.

Omg. Did he just blatantly look at her chest? What was wrong with him? Granted, it was a revealing dress but that didn't give him permission to stare!

She glared furiously at him. Not that he seemed to care as his hand stroked along her face, cupped her chin in a seemingly iron grip and forced her to look into his eyes.

"Well?"

She jerked her head out his strong grip. The movement hurt. This was no dream. Everything was too real. The pain in her chin, the strange sensation where his fingers had touched her.

"Goblin King," she whispered.

He cocked his head, narrowed his eyes and watched her silently.

After a few moments she felt some courage returning and boldly declared: "I don't know what you're playing at Goblin King, but you better get out of my way. This is my world. I beat you at your twisted game and you have no power over me."

His eyes flashed with anger and something else that she could not discern. His smirk grew wider.

"I had no power over you because you won the game. Those little words don't work now."

"I've had enough of your games Goblin King," Sarah spat furiously.

She tried to duck under his arm and escape but he pinned her against the wall with his body.

"Now Sarah, stop being so rude."

"Rude? I have earned the right to be rude. You kidnapped my baby brother and nearly killed me in this labyrinth of yours!"

"You asked me to take the baby! I took him. Then I offered you a chance to get him back. I was generous. You wished your brother away. Words have power. I did everything you asked of me!"

"No you did not!" Sarah yelled. "I wanted you to give me back my baby brother, not make me run your labyrinth!"

"Precious, that's not how it works."

"That's how it works here! In my world!"

She suddenly realized how close he was. She could feel his hard, lean body and could smell his scent that she found strangely intoxicating. He smelled like the air after a thunderstorm. Crisp electricity. Magic.

She had to get away from him.

"What is it that you want Goblin King? And why do you look so normal? What happened to the glitter, the crazy hair and the makeup?"

He grinned at her and she slightly flinched at the sight of sharp teeth. They were subtle but very noticeable at her current proximity.

"More normal should I say."

His mouth moved closer to her ear and she shivered slightly. "Isn't it obvious what I want, Precious?"

"No, actually it isn't. Why a creature from what I thought was a nightmare would come back to haunt me after ten years of peace is beyond me."

Jareth took a step back. He hadn't expected this.

It was much worse than he had initially thought. She thought of him as a nightmare. He had assumed she hadn't understood that he had had no choice but to take her brother but he hadn't realized until now how much she despised him.

He felt his world shatter around him. How could he get her to know him when she hated him?

Sarah notice a strange emotion flicker across his face that was nearly immediately taken over by his regular haughty look. She took advantage of his momentary distraction and pushed past him trying to lose him in the crowd.

There was no way she was going to talk to HIM - her nightmare creature - for even a second longer.

How could he be even real? This was insane. She was going crazy. That was it. Maybe someone had slipped her something.

Air. That's what she needed.

Lost in manic thoughts she burst outside the bar into the cold late October night, trying to escape a magical entity that by all rational means shouldn't exist.

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SarahlouiseDodge:

Sorry I left that cliffhanger last night. It was late and I had to go to bed.

I keep thinking my chapters will be much shorter but then I keep breaking them up.

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Please read and review!


	5. Chapter 5

She breathed in the crisp air, already calming down slightly. Young New Yorkers were walking past her on their way home or to the next bar. Cars honked trying to make their way through the traffic.

Reality. Thankfully.

She shivered slightly but did not want to return inside.

"Sarah." His voice pulled her out of her reverie. He had followed her outside. Crap.

"Come back inside, you look like you are freezing."

"No," she stubbornly replied. "I want you to leave me alone."

"Here, put it on." He was holding out his leather jacket.

She just started at him in disbelief. "Why are you offering me your jacket?"

"Because you are cold and isn't that what a normal human man would do? Offer you his jacket?"

"You are not normal and certainly not a human man. I don't know what you are and I don't want your jacket."

If she didn't know any better she would have thought that she saw hurt flashing over his face.  
He sighted and wrapped his jacket around her shoulders. Despite herself she was glad for it and did not throw it into his face although that had been her first thought when he had made her wear it.

But she was not going to say thank you. She knew she should but those words would not come over her lips when it came to him. So she continued glaring at him.

"I came to see you," Jareth broke the silence.

"Why?" She asked through chattering teeth.

He took a step closer and tentatively rubbed his hands over her exposed arms ignoring the incredulous look on her face.

How could he tell her? That he could think of nothing else but her since she left? That he had fallen for a 15 year old girl and that it had taken him a huge amount of effort to be here tonight?  
The power drain had been enormous and he still felt weak.

He sighed.

"It's revenge, isn't it?"

He stared at her in utter shock. Revenge hadn't even crossed his mind. He had been too busy brooding over her.

In a desperate attempt to reassure her he gathered her in his arms and stroked her hair.  
"I," he began but words failed him. "I just wanted to see you again."

Bewildered, she looked up at him. What was he playing at?

"Goblin King," she started but he interrupted her. "Jareth. My name is Jareth".

Jareth. Yes, she remembered.

He was way too close to her again. It bothered her. Not for the reasons it should though. She LIKED being close to him. Wearing his jacket over her shoulders and his strong arms wrapped around her back underneath his jacket. Why did she like it? Something was wrong with her. He smelled so good. Like leather, earth and lightning.

His pale face was flawless. High cheekbones that looked slightly unnatural. They were, she reminded herself.

He was still looking down at her. Studying her. A smile played on his lips.

His lips were awfully close. She just had to move forward a small fraction and they would touch his. What shocked her was that she wanted that to happen. Feeling his lips on hers even just for a second.

She moved her head closer, still not touching but she could feel his breath on her face. There was no way she would move any closer though and initiate a kiss.

Slowly he moved his head forward and finally their lips touched. He didn't move them at first for a second or two and then tentatively began kissing her. The touch of his lips induced pleasant tingles and she began kissing him back.

It wasn't enough. She wanted more. A lot more than just kisses. That revelation scared her senseless and snapped her out of the moment.

She was kissing her childhood nemesis who had turned out to be real.

Putting her hands on his chest she pushed him away with all her strength. "Stop it! No!"

Jareth stumbled backwards and stared at her in bewilderment.

"This," she indicated between them, "was a huge mistake."

She took a few deep breaths to gain control over her shaking voice.

"You need to go back to wherever you came from Goblin King. There is no place for you in this world."

In an afterthought she added "I have no desire to talk to you or get to know you Goblin King. I will also not call you by your name as we are not friends and never have never been. Now go back to your strange world."

Despite the confidence in her voice her body betrayed her. She was shaking all over.

All color had left Jareth's face and if she hadn't know any better she thought that he looked immensely hurt. Except that of course he wasn't. He was playing one of his games with her and she had refused to be part of it.

With those last thoughts she turned on her heels and walked back towards the bar only to hear the screech of tires and a sickening thud as if somebody had been hit by a car, thrown into the air and landed back on the pavement.

As she quickly spun around, she instantly felt nauseated at the sight that greeted her.

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	6. Chapter 6

"Jareth!" Sarah screamed.

The car that had hit Jareth had come out of nowhere and was speeding away, trying to avoid traffic. Judging by the hazardous swerving, it was most likely a drunk driver.

Jareth was lying on his back near the edge of the road, head tilted towards the side and one arm stretched out.

She realized that she must have had pushed him onto the road a few moments earlier. This was all her fault. She could barely breathe out of worry for him.

How could he even be hurt? Wasn't he some kind of magical entity? A being that had always existed?

She had never considered his mortality since she had thought of him as a figment of her imagination. Thinking about him being immortal made her realize how absurd that was. She had met other beings in that labyrinth of his and she had never thought of them as unable to get hurt. So why should he be different?

That epiphany made her blood run cold and she rushed to his side, nearly twisting her ankle while running in her treacherous high heels.

His eyes were closed and his blonde hair cast a stark contrast to the black asphalt. Something dark behind and to the side of his head reflected the street light. She stared at it wondering what it was only to realize it was blood when she noticed red streaks in his hair.

Panic surged through her. He wasn't moving. He couldn't be dead. "Please don't be dead, please don't be dead", she repeated the mantra silently.

"Jareth," she cautiously touched his arm. "Can you hear me?"

"Damn it, Goblin King," she whispered and was about to feel for his pulse - not knowing if it would even be in the same place or if he had one - when his eyes opened.

They were unfocused and he didn't seem to see her at first. But then he grabbed ahold of her shoulders and tried to sit up. Sarah helped him into a sitting position and noticed that he was shaking badly.

Pulling him closer to her she hugged him and gently stroked the back of his head, not caring at all how much blood she would get on herself and her clothes.

"Jareth, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen," she said softly. He held onto her as if his life depended on it and rested his head onto her shoulder.

A crowd of people had gathered around them talking amongst themselves. Someone shouted to call for an ambulance.

An ambulance. If he had been a normal guy she would agree that he needed one ASAP. Heck, scratch that. It didn't matter what he was, he really needed go to the hospital judging by the state he was in.

But she also knew that they would quickly notice that he wasn't human. He simply didn't look quite human. At first glance and even second glance nobody would discern anything different about him. But then they would come across small physical differences such as his sharper teeth and slightly inhuman facial structure and maybe even shrug them off. But who knew what else was different. Certainly his DNA which meant he most likely had different blood than a human. As soon as they would test his blood for his blood type they would know for certain something was off. She could only take a guess at what would happen then but it would probably involve the authorities and a very secure cell. Most likely they would think he was some kind of alien from another planet.

Another planet. Another world. Some type of alien. That's exactly what he was.

No, he couldn't go to a hospital. She had to get him out of here.

"Jareth, listen, I'm going to take you to my place. I'm afraid of what they might do to you if we go to a hospital and they figure out you're not human." He nodded, then winced. "We're going to take a cab but I need you to stand and try to walk. I can't carry you."

She looked at him with concern and hoped he understood her. He opened his mouth to reply but instead started coughing up blood.

Ice cold fear slithered down her spine. "Crap. Please don't let him have internal bleeding," she prayed silently to whoever might listen.

"He's ok," she told the spectators. "No need for an ambulance."

The people closest to them gave her incredulous looks. She didn't blame them. He did look terrible. But hopefully they wouldn't question her.

"Can someone please flag down a cab?"

Fortunately somebody did as she asked and shortly a cab stopped.

After taking one good look at Jareth, the cabbie shook his head. "Oh hell no! Not getting into my cab."

Panicked, Sarah, opened her clutch and took out all her cash. "Here! This is all I have. It's $80 and a few cents. I live on 75th and 3rd. It's not far from here. Please!"

The cabbie hesitated at first but then shrugged and mumbled something about wiping off the pleather seats. Gratefully, Sarah opened the door and carefully helped Jareth inside.

He seemed to be on the verge of losing his consciousness again and Sarah put her arms around him and gently eased his head towards her shoulder to lean against.

As the cab sped towards the Upper East Side, Sarah began to cry silent tears of concern and self hatred as she was holding an unconscious Jareth.

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	7. Chapter 7

"Hey, stay with me. Look at me!" she snapped her fingers.

Jareth opened his eyes and looked into her face. He was sitting on the floor in Sarah's tiny bathroom, leaning against the wall. His face was white as chalk, spattered with dried blood.

It had taken forever to get him up the stairs to her fourth floor studio apartment. Unsurprisingly the cab driver had been no help at all. She had cursed NY walkups and the extortionate prices of elevator apartments and apartments in general.

"I'm going to clean you up a bit. It might hurt," she told Jareth while dipping a washcloth into lukewarm water.

He nodded and winced immediately.

"Where do you hurt? Do you think anything is broken?" she asked while cleaning his face carefully.

"It's mostly my head that hurts like hell. Nothing seems to be broken but I don't know for sure," he replied.

"Can you take painkillers?"

"I think so. We are similar enough to humans," he replied.

Humans. Although she knew they were not the same species, him acknowledging it and referring to her people as humans sounded strange.

"Ok, I'll be right back."

Sarah returned a minute later with a glass of water and three Advils. Jareth was bent over the open toilet, dry-heaving.

She sat next to him and stroked his back trying to comfort him. When he finished she wordlessly handed him the water and pills.

"Are you feeling a bit better?"

"No," he replied and swallowed the pills together with the water. "I have a splitting headache and am really dizzy and nauseous."

"You probably have a concussion. I'll clean your head and have a look at the wound. Ok?"

His hair, especially at the back of his head, was caked with blood and stuck closely to his head. As she began cleaning it with the washcloth she noticed his ears for the first time.

They were the size of normal human ears but pointed at the tips instead of being round. He had kept them hidden under his hair all this time. She tried not to stare but knew that he had noticed her seeing them when she had stopped cleaning the wound.

"Those would have gone down well with your human doctors at the hospital," he joked sarcastically.

Sarah ignored his comment although she really wanted to ask him what he was and where he came from but held her tongue. Now wasn't the time. Knowing what he was wouldn't change anything anyway and she quietly continued cleaning the blood off his head.

"Thank you for helping me," he said so softly she hardly heard him.

"You're welcome."

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because you are hurt."

"But you hate me." It wasn't a question.

She stopped cleaning and looked at him. "I don't hate you."

He regarded her cynically.

"I didn't mean what I said. I don't know what I feel." She paused. "It scares me."

She turned towards the sink and busied herself washing the cloth in the running water.

"You are not supposed to kiss the villain who kidnapped your little brother."

"But," Jareth started.

"I know, I know," Sarah interrupted. "I asked you to take him. See what I mean? I don't know what to feel."

"What I'm allowed to feel," she added nearly inaudibly.

He did hear her and looked up at her, astonished.

"I'll put some anti-septic on your head wound. It'll probably burn a bit, ok?", she broke the silence.

Jareth only winced for a second while she finished patching him up. He still looked pasty but somehow a bit better. Moreover he looked beyond exhausted.

"You should lie down and get some rest. Do you want to brush your teeth since you threw up a bit? I have a spare tooth brush. Do you brush your teeth where you are from?"

He gave her an incredulous stare. "Our worlds are different but we are not savages. We take baths and brush our teeth."

"Ok, ok, sorry, it's just that your castle looked rundown with all these filthy goblins running around."

"I'm not a goblin and I don't live where the goblins scamper around."

He looked slightly insulted at her insinuation.

Sarah suppressed a giggle at his somewhat outraged expression and left the bathroom giving him privacy.

He emerged soon after limping and swaying. Sarah rushed towards him and helped him towards her bed. He had taken his gloves off and Sarah partially expected his hands to be different from human hands since he had been hiding them but they looked absolutely  
normal.

In fact they were beautiful. She never thought she would describe hands as beautiful but his were. His fingers were long and elegant, the skin flawless.

"Why do you wear gloves?" she blurted out.

He hesitated. "The energy, the magic as you would call it, is not part of me. It is a force of nature and it can singe my hands when I use it."

Not knowing how to respond she changed the subject.

"You can sleep on the bed but I don't have any clothes that would fit you so I guess you have to sleep in what you're wearing."

He nodded, took off his boots, scooted over to the far side of the bed and lay down on top of the blanket.

There was only one blanket and no sofa in her tiny apartment. They would have to share. She looked out of the window. The wind was howling and it had begun to snow. She remembered reading about an early Nor'easter coming to New York City.

"You can sleep underneath the blanket," she sighed.

He looked at her as if asking if she was sure but then his exhaustion won over and he slipped underneath the blanket and rested his aching head on the pillow.

Sarah grabbed her pink Victoria's Secret lounge pants as well as a grey tank top and disappeared into the bathroom.

He was staring at the ceiling when she returned. She slipped underneath the covers and switched off the light.

"Jareth?"

He turned his head towards her. The yellow-orange streetlight cast an otherworldly hue over his features and brought out his sharp cheekbones. The tips of his ears were peeking out from underneath his hair. She longed to touch them. He looked utterly alien and achingly beautiful at the same time.

"Goodnight," she whispered and leaned forward kissing him softly on the mouth.

His face was only a few inches from hers after she moved away and opened her eyes. He stared at her with a look of utter shock and astonishment on his face.

For a few moments, they just looked into each other's eyes, unsure of what to do. The tension was palpable in the air.

Jareth was the first to react and tenderly pressed his mouth to hers. The feeling of his lips sent a current of electricity running through her body. She wrapped her free arm around him and returned his kiss fervently.

His breath mingled with hers and when she finally gave into the kiss nothing else in the world mattered for a few precious stolen moments but Jareth.


	8. Chapter 8

The early morning hours of November 1, 1996 were eerily quiet especially for New York. The howling wind had died down and only large snowflakes fell noiselessly. The entire city was covered in a blanket of snow and usual street sounds were silenced.

New York was experiencing one of its rare peaceful moments.

Sarah regarded a sleeping Jareth in the morning twilight with an immense amount of butterflies in her stomach.

How quickly things could change to the completely unexpected.

Well, kind of unexpected.

She was coming to terms with a few revelations.

Other worlds and beings from other worlds were real. NASA and the SETI Institute would probably give an arm and a leg for that information.

Jareth the Goblin King was real. As bizarre as that sounded.

He was not just some baby-stealing villain as she used to think. Well, he was - sort of. It was complicated.

She had kissed Jareth last night and actually liked it. Deep down she had to admit that she always had had a forbidden crush on him but her 15 year old self had simply disregarded it as he was the "villain" and also "old". She internally laughed at that notion.

He was probably much older than her but not "old" in terms of attractiveness.

Jareth was also currently sleeping in her bed, curled up on his side, messy blonde hair falling over his forehead, covering his eyes. Sarah cautiously brushed his hair aside to have a better look at him.

He looked incredibly pale and she wasn't sure if this was his usual skin tone enhanced by the contrast with his black clothes or if he was still sick.

Probably a combination of both she guessed.

He appeared much younger than she remembered him. Yesterday she hadn't paid much attention to that fact after the initial shock of seeing him in New York wore off but now she noticed it clearly.

Or could it be that he simply hadn't aged whereas she had? That was most likely the case.

He also wasn't smirking or sneering in his sleep which helped further.

Sarah carefully rolled out of bed trying not to disturb him and went to her fridge for a Diet Coke.

She was exhausted. A quick glance at her alarm clock told her that it was 6:45am. What time had she finally fallen asleep last night?

Maybe 3am?

There was no way she could go to work today. Just the thought of sitting in that office with its nasty artificial light and her micro-managing crazy boss made her feel like throwing up. And they said PR work was glamorous. Just NO.

She felt relieved and giddy after making the decision to call in sick, returned the Diet Coke to her fridge and set her alarm for 9am instead of 7am. She'd call in just as her boss would get in, spend the rest of the day taking care of Jareth and figuring out what to do with.

Just as Sarah was slipping back underneath the covers Jareth started convulsing and shaking violently.

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Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

To all my reviewers and readers, thank you so much for reading and liking my story. Every review posted is very special to me even if it's short. They inspire me to write so please keep them coming. Even if you think you have not much to contribute I do appreciate even the shortest reviews. Constructive reviews are also very much welcome. I have never written a story before and I am sure that a lot could be improved.

Most of the time I write this story on my iPhone whenever inspiration strikes and when I have some time. I travel a lot for work, don't carry my laptop with me and upload from the iPhone app. Unfortunately the app is not perfect and keeps messing up the layout. Trying to correct it from my phone does not work most of the time. I finally found some time at home with my laptop to go through previous chapters and I have not only updated the formatting but also changed a few sentences. Nothing major pertaining to the story has been changed and I simply hope it will be easier to read.

Thanks everybody and enjoy!

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Sarah froze in complete shock at the sight of Jareth thrashing and convulsing on her bed. She wasn't a medical professional but it looked like a seizure and Sarah felt panic rising up. Even without a medical education she knew that his current state was pretty bad. This was not epilepsy but caused by his head injury and he was in dire need of a doctor. But since he was not human she could not simply dial 911.

Maybe she should though? What if he was dying?

She had to calm down and focus. How long would this last? Surely no more than a few minutes.

Should she hold him down?

Luckily he was lying on her bed surrounded by pillows and there wasn't much that could hurt him although his arm banged a couple of times against the wall.

Suddenly, his convulsions ended as quickly as they had started. She guessed it had not been longer than a minute.

He was lying utterly still and if it had not been for his shallow but regular breathing she would have thought him dead.

"Jareth?" She gingerly touched his arm but there was no response.

Tears came to her eyes. What was she supposed to do? He should be in a hospital right now and not in her bed. She stroked his damp hair and felt tears running down her face. It was all her fault. She had pushed him onto the road because she had been afraid of her own feelings and now he was extremely sick. Why had she ever thought he couldn't get hurt?

Because she had regarded him as a supernatural villain and she had never gotten over these beliefs which she had as a teenager until she was confronted with him again.

She pulled his slack body towards her, positioning his head in her lap. "Please wake up. Please wake up," she sobbed. "I don't know what to do. I'm so sorry."

After several minutes of rocking softly forwards and backwards she finally pushed herself to think and figure out how she could help Jareth.

He had to return to his world as soon as possible and see a doctor there. Even if a doctor in her world could help him, the ultimate outcome wouldn't be pretty. They definitely would keep him prisoner to study him since he wasn't human.

Think Sarah! He wasn't responsive. How could she contact his world?

Of course! "Should you need us, for any reason at all..." Sarah remembered Hoggle's words from 10 years ago. Her friends could help!

She carefully laid Jareth's head back on the pillow and ran into her bathroom. The bathroom mirror reflected a face she hardly recognized. She looked haggard and pale, tear streaks glistening in the white light, strands of hair stuck to her face.

It didn't matter. She didn't care at all how she looked like and what Hoggle and Sir Didymus might think of her for helping Jareth. He was their king, wasn't he? They should care and would certainly help her. Even though they disliked him. Although Hoggle thought of him as a rat...

Taking a deep breath she looked into her mirror and said the words that would bring help: "Hoggle, I need you."

Nothing happened. She waited a few more seconds. "Hoggle, I need you. Sir Didymus, I need you. Ludo, I need you."

Nothing.

"Hoggle? Can you hear me? Please, I know it's been years but I need your help. Please. It's Jareth. He's sick. Please, can anybody hear me?"

Silence.

She sank down onto the floor, pulled her knees to her chest and blankly stared ahead. They hadn't answered. Hoggle had promised her years ago that he would be there for her should she need him and now he wasn't. They had forgotten about her. Or they were angry with her since she had not called them to simply see them. She couldn't get in touch with anybody in the Underground.

Slowly she got up, rinsed her face with cold water and stared one last time into the mirror. No more crying! She would find a solution. It was not the first time that things looked bad and that she had figured things out. She wasn't even referring to running the Labyrinth and winning back her baby brother. Regular life had enough challenges that she had mastered. She could do this. Maybe she could anonymously call the hospital and ask what she should do when someone had a seizure. Yes, that would be a start.

When she returned to her bedroom, Jareth was standing with his back towards her, staring outside the window. The wind had started howling again and the snow was falling in angry swirls.

His short hair was wild and a faint aura of electrical charge could be felt in the air that surrounded him.

"Jareth?"

He slowly turned around and looked at her. His pale face seemed to glow unnaturally, his pupils were dilated and although he looked directly at her his eyes were unfocused and he seemed to not see her.

Her heart beat faster. "Jareth? Are you alright?"

No answer.

His palms glowed.

"Jareth, what are you doing?"

Sarah, grabbed one of his hands, turned it over and looked at it. His palm was red as if it had been burned by the sun.

"Sarah," he called in his deep voice.

She looked at him and stroked his face tenderly.

"You had a seizure."

He squinted his eyes and furrowed his brow.

"You started convulsing and were unresponsive afterwards. Jareth, I'm really worried, you need to see a doctor. In your own world. But I cannot reach anybody. I tried. They are not answering," she whispered the last part and looked at the floor.

"The veil between the worlds is no longer thin. I am unable to open a portal. I just tried."

"What does that mean?"

"I am stuck in your world, Sarah."

She stared at him in shock.

"There is a way though," he said in a low undertone.

"What is it?"

"You know what it is Sarah." His lips were next to her ear and his words were caressing her very soul.

"Say your right words," he whispered.

His proximity and the electricity that sizzled in the air had her on edge. She was completely taken in by his presence but felt that something was not quite right. She couldn't put her finger on it.

"What are the right words? Do you want me to wish you away?"

He smiled, like a cat that found a prey amusing to play with.

"No sweet Sarah. That would not work. I cannot collect myself. You have to wish yourself away."

His mouth touched hers and he placed featherlight kisses onto her lips. "Say the right words."

In between his tender kisses, Sarah tried to collect her thoughts. "How will I get back home?"

"You know how it works. You have been there before."

His soft kisses deepened and as she felt his tongue touch hers, desire welled up within her. She could do this. Fix it all.

She tore herself away from him for only the briefest moment.

"I wish the goblins would take me away right now."

His face lit up beatifically and she didn't catch the dangerous glint in his eyes as his passionate kiss took her breath away.

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	10. Chapter 10

A sudden cacophony of cackling and screeching pulled Sarah out of their kiss. She opened her eyes and was greeted by a pandemonium that involved goblins of various sizes darting around, drinking unidentifiable liquids straight out of bottles and chasing chickens.

The noise changed into shouting as soon as the goblins realized that their king was back.

"Kingy! Kingy is back!"

"Kingy looks weird. Like humans".

"Kingy brought a wished-away!"

"She wished herself away this time!"

"Let's play with her!" various goblins shouted at the same time.

Jareth groaned at the craziness surrounding them. "Quiet!", he shouted. "And get out. All of you! Right now!"

Dozens of unmoving eyes stared at them as if in shock.

"What are you waiting for? I said OUT!", Jareth bellowed and the goblins scattered away in fear.

The sudden peace was a blessing and Sarah looked up at Jareth with concern. He was holding her close, stroking her long hair. Sarah took a look at their surroundings. She was in what looked like a throne room and she remotely remembered running through it ten years ago when she had been searching for her brother. Just as back then, even without the goblins, the entire room was a complete mess. Chickens were running around, unidentifiable broken objects were lying on the floor posing tripping hazards and flasks were strewn over the floor leaking liquids. In short, it was as if a college frat party had been interrupted by the cops and everybody had emptied the room in a hurry.

"Jareth," she whispered as he was stroking her face with his ungloved hand. "How do we get you to a doctor from here? Can you transport us or do you have some type of - I don't know - transportation device?" A helicopter with a private pilot or car with a chauffeur would do nicely she thought.

He looked straight into her eyes and sensually kissed her on the mouth. "Sarah, my Sarah.", he uttered barely audibly.

"Jareth? Let's get you some help." She took his hand.

He wasn't moving.

"I don't need help."

His words cut through her like a knife. "What are you talking about?"

"I feel fine. Haven't felt this great in decades."

"You had a seizure! You are not fine by any means!" she nearly shouted.

"No." He shook his head. "I have been feeling sick for decades and this is the first time in a very long time that I can think straight."

"Ok," Sarah hesitated. "Well, that's great, but you got hit by a car and should get checked out. Just in case. I'm glad you feel fine but what if you have interior bleeding or something..."

"I'm fine!" Jareth yelled. "Don't you listen?"

Sarah winced. Something was very, very wrong. This was not the Jareth of the past few hours. Was this the real Jareth from ten years ago? She wasn't sure. He had been short-tempered but this seemed to be a whole different level. But maybe this was the real him and he had duped her. She should have listened to her gut in the first place. On the other hand though she was pretty much sure that the accident had been real.

"Ok, ok," she tried to appease him. "You're fine. I'm glad. What now?"

He cocked his head. "What now? I should show you to your room."

Her room. Her blood ran ice cold. "My room? What do you mean by that?", she asked with trepidation in her voice.

He started stroking her face again and pushed a stray lock behind her ear. Her heart was racing in her chest and she looked towards the floor to distract herself from what she feared was happening. She noticed that he was still barefoot.

He kissed her again. Softly and with some desperate emotion she could not - would not - identify. As if it would be their last kiss ever. She feared it would be. Everything hinged on what would happen next. He leaned his forehead against hers.

"Jareth ... don't. Please." Somehow she knew her plea would be futile.

"You wished yourself away..."

"Yes, to help you! So you could go home and see a doctor! Well, since you don't need one you should send me home now."

"It doesn't work like that."

Her heart sank as her fears were confirmed.

"What do you mean by that?" she tried to remain calm. "You said that I knew how it would work. Does that mean I have to run the labyrinth again? I will if I have to."

He shook his head. "No, little girl."

She felt anger welling up inside her. How dare he call her a little girl! Maybe compared to his age - whatever that was - she was a little girl but she was still an adult and not a small child. The pet name he called her by infuriated her immensely.

"What do you mean by 'no'? I rescued my baby brother that way. That's how it works!" she exclaimed.

"No, it doesn't."

"Yes, it does!" she yelled. "I've done this before! Stop lying!" Tears were welling up in her eyes.

He caressed her cheek with his index finger and she shuddered involuntarily. What bothered her most was that she could not decide whether it was a good or bad shudder. She wasn't still attracted to him, was she?

"You wished yourself away. Yes?"

"Yes! To get you home!"

"Irrelevant. Last time you wished your brother away, correct?"

"Get to the point already!"

He smirked. "Who is going to run the labyrinth for you, little girl?"

Her face fell. Crap. Someone had to rescue her but there was nobody since she had wished herself away. How had she not thought of that!

"You fucking bastard. You tricked me."

He kept smirking.

"I will not stay here. No way. You will poof me or whatever it is you do to my world right this second!"

"No," he calmly stated.

He leaned towards her and whispered into her ear: "You will stay here with me." As his form dissolved in front of her eyes the word "forever" resounded in the empty air.

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	11. Chapter 11

Sarah screamed at the top of her lungs out of pure rage. This was not happening. The utter bastard. She was NOT going to stay here. She'd kill him for this. Well, figuratively speaking. He would pay. Somehow.

A small goblin peeked into the room checking what the ruckus was all about and disappeared quickly with a squeal when Sarah gave him a murderous look and threw a discarded glass bottle at him.

She had to find him. Make him take her back. She would not take no as an answer and until he did what she wanted she would make his life miserable. He would regret what he'd done. What was that quote again? "Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned." It fitted her current mood perfectly.

Suddenly she realized that she was still wearing her sleeping pants and tank top. She couldn't have just told him she'd change clothes before she made that wish, could she? If she had just stalled to put some different clothes on then she might not have even made the stupid wish. At least she had put on flip flops since the floor in her apartment had been cold which meant she did not have to trudge through his dirty castle barefoot. Small blessings.

Without another look at the filthy throne room, Sarah climbed up the heavy stone steps that let to the rest of the castle, intend on finding the Goblin King.

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He had misled her. He wasn't "fine" as he had put it. The splitting headache was getting worse with each passing second. Health-wise he felt the worse he had ever felt but on the plus side he was no longer love-sick and pathetic. In fact, he felt fantastic in that regard and it all averaged out as "fine". He was not going to pine over Sarah any longer. He had her. Finally!

Granted, this was not what his initial plan had been. He only had wanted her to give him a chance by talking to him hoping she would like him and then they could have gone from there. If she had decided she wanted to seem him again she could have just wished for him and he could have then been able to visit her.

The ball had always been in her court and he had never meant to trick her into Tír na nÓg. Quite frankly, he did not know what had overcome him but he did not regret it. He no longer felt the terrible loneliness and desperation that had plagued him for decades. Or had it been centuries? He didn't know. Years flew by as if they were decades and decades as if they were centuries. It was one of the downsides of longevity.

Finally he no longer suffered from all the negative feelings and he'd be damned if he would allow them back. That accident had ultimately knocked some sense into him. If he could just get rid of the headache ...

In that moment he wished for Sarah's little pills. For all the magic in his world, his people were unable to harness the energy of their world the same way humans did. It was suspected that the actual makeup of the energy and the physical laws were different.

Twisting his wrist he conjured a steaming cup of herbal tea made out of the bark of a tree that was known to alleviate pain. He took a sip and grimaced, having forgotten how bitter the tea was. He drowned it in one big gulp and poured himself a glass of scotch to wash down the aftertaste.

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After walking through dark and drafty stone corridors for what seemed like hours, Sarah felt like giving up. She was shivering and would have given anything to find a coat or a blanket in any of the many rooms she looked into. It was a huge castle and most rooms did not have anything inside. Whenever they did it was usually a bunch of junk except for the Escher room which she had also come across but fled from immediately.

Where was the damn bastard? Was he even still inside the castle? Did he live here? There had not been one room that had been anything even close to some type of living quarters.

One more room. He had to be somewhere. Not that she knew where to go to if that room was also a bust but she promised herself that she would at least rest and then move on. Even if it meant she had to sleep on the damp stone floor.

Slowly she pushed the wooden door open and peered inside. Disappointment filled her. Nothing. Just like all the other rooms. She felt exhausted. Damn him. If she could at least find a room that had a bed or sofa in it so she could lie down. Was his entire castle void of any cleanliness or comfortable furniture?

Just as she was turning around in resignation she realized that SOMETHING was different about this room. But what was it? She blinked her tired eyes and tried to focus. Yes. That was it. It was CLEAN! All the other rooms had been covered in dust and cobwebs but none were found in this one.

She stepped inside. It was a bit better than the hallway if this is where she would end up resting. Unlit torches lined the walls. Although there was a small window, the wind was blowing from the other direction and caused the room to be slightly warmer than the hallway. And then she saw it. An arched stone entrance towards the left that opened into a short corridor which in turn led to another room. A room that had a faint flicker of light coming from it. How had she missed that in the first place?

The pale glow was emanating from glimmering pillar candles which were lit in alcoves. As far as she could tell this room was also fairly bare had it not been for an ornate mahogany desk and matching chair in one corner as well as a large old fashioned dark red velvet sofa in the other one. Just as the rest of the castle both the walls and the floor were made up of big grey stones.

Nobody except her was inside the room. For a split second she worried about the unattended candles but dismissed her concerns quickly. She had barely slept last night, had been manipulated into and trapped in a different world, had been walking around for what seemed like hours, and at this point she was beyond caring. Still no coat or blanket to be found but at least a sofa that looked semi-comfortable plus candles that provided light and some warmth. She sighted and sat down on the sofa.

"How nice of you to join me, Sarah," stated his disembodied voice.

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	12. Chapter 12

Warning for adult content in this chapter!

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She nearly jumped up from the couch at the sound of his voice. Where the heck had it come from? Was it another disembodied voice or was he actually here?

At first, she did not see him. He stepped into the room through night black billowing curtains that led onto what looked like a balcony overlooking the labyrinth. He was still wearing his clothes from last night, was barefoot and without his gloves. His  
hair was wild but still short and his face shimmered. She could tell he had been using magic by they physical changes it had brought about. She briefly wondered if he could change his hair back to long or if he had actually cut it and it would have  
to grow on it's own.

He leant against the wall opposite the sofa, one foot propped up against it, trademark smirk on his face and a glass containing honey-colored liquid in one hand.

"Would you like a drink?" he asked cocking his head.

"Would I like a fucking drink? What the fuck is wrong with you?" she yelled in exasperation.

"That doesn't answer the question."

Thinking about it she figured that she could actually use a drink right now and maybe she would get the chance to throw any leftover wine into his face. Although somehow she doubted there would be any drink left.

"You know what? Yes, I would like a drink."

He downed his drink, twisted his wrist and the glass disappeared. With another flick of his wrist, he produced a crystal and threw it towards the small side table next to the sofa. A bottle of white wine and two glasses materialized on the table.

He pulled out the cork, poured two glasses and offered her one.

Sarah crossed her arms and shook her head. "Take a sip out of the one you were going to give me."

His smirk grew wider. "You don't trust me."

"Not in a million years. Now drink the wine."

He raised the glass to his lips and took a fairly large sip before handing it to her.

"Satisfied?"

She took the glass from him. "Still not trusting you but I'll take my chances."

The glass was heavy in her hand and the wine cold. Condensation had formed at the side of the glass. Exhaustion and weariness threatened to engulf her. It had all been too much. She took a large swallow, not caring what it looked like or what he might  
think. The wine was fruity, crisp, tasted faintly of white peaches and also went straight to her head.

She briefly closed her eyes as she felt herself unwind.

Jareth took a seat next to her. His half empty glass was sitting on the side table.

He kept watching her as she was sipping her wine. Just as she had build up enough courage to throw the remaining contents of the glass into his face he took it from her and sat it on the table.

Without warning, he leaned forward and kissed her softly on the mouth.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing, Goblin King?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he retorted and raised an eyebrow.

"You can't just trick me into your world, trap me here and expect me to act as if nothing is wrong. And I have no desire to kiss you. Ever again. You fucking son of a bitch! The only reason I came looking for you is to tell you to send me back right now!  
You cannot do this. Even in your world this has to be wrong. I made a wish to help you!"

"Even if I wanted to - which I do not - I could not send you back. The laws of magic don't work that way. You made the wish but since there is nobody to run the labyrinth for you ...," he trailed off.

"That is such bullshit! I don't believe a word of what you are saying!"

"The sidhe can't lie."

"The what? Oh and everyone can lie."

"The sidhe. I am a sidhe the way you are a human. It's what we call ourselves. Humans call us fae. And no, we cannot lie. There is literally a block in our mind when we try to."

Sarah stared at him dumbfounded. So that's what he was. She somehow had known.

"I hate you."

An unidentifiable emotion flashed across his face before he rearranged it back into its smirking mask.

He trailed his fingers over her bare arms making her shiver.

"Stop it."

Ignoring her, his fingertips now caressed her sides and faintly brushed the underside of her breasts.

"I said stop it!"

Me moved closer again. "I don't believe you. You say things you don't mean all the time," he breathed into her ear.

His mouth ghosted over her lips and his fingertips were now lightly touching her upper thigh. "If you truly don't want this you can always push me away and I will stop. You're very good at pushing me away, aren't you?"

Damn him! His touch ignited sensations within her that she would have never thought could be brought on by HIM and she felt desire pooling deep in her belly. What was wrong with her? She could not possibly want him after everything he'd done to her? And  
how dare he try to manipulate her by alluding to the accident! She hadn't meant for it to happen!

Just a few more seconds and she would push him away. Why was actually doing this so difficult?

A wild idea formed into her mind and she tried to ignore it, wanting to forget it had ever occured to her. No such luck.

What if she could just take from him what she wanted the way he had taken from her what he had wanted?

There was no way she was staying with him in his castle. She'd search for help outside from other fae. But before she'd get away from him she could ...

In a split second she made up her mind and kissed him passionately. He hesitated for a heartbeat and she knew that she had surprised him. Had all his confidence been just empty bluster?

His kiss matched hers in ferocity and for a brief moment she had the impression that he kissed her like a man who had been dying of thirst and finally was able to drink. The intensity of his kiss frightened her.

In an effort to take control and punish him at the same time she bit his bottom lip. Hard. Nearly hard enough to draw blood and she now had his attention. He pulled away, "This," she motioned between them, "does not change anything. I hate you and will  
never forgive you. Are we clear, Goblin King?"

An emotion flashed over his face far too quickly for her to able to identify it. He smirked and crushed his lips against hers once again while his hand moved upward on her thigh, the back of his fingers brushing briefly against her center.

She suppressed a moan. No way would she give him that type of satisfaction so early in the game.

His hand moved towards the elastic waistband of her sleeping pants and dipped inside her pants. Her eyes snapped open. What was she doing? But it was too late as he already touched her most sensitive spot and she lost all coherent thought at the sensation.  
This time she could not stop herself and she whimpered as he kept caressing her.

She needed more and subconsciously raised her hips for closer contact. She was close. So close. How could someone she hated affect her so much?

Suddenly he stopped. Her eyes snapped open in frustration.

He hovered a few inches above her, pupils large and black with desire, an unasked question on his face.

In response, she yanked his shirt above his head, pulled him closer for another kiss and wrapped her legs around him craving the friction of feeling him. She could tell he wanted her as much as she wanted him.

Jareth was stroking her hair and looked at her as is she was the most precious thing in his world.

She needed to feel him. Now. She started pushing down his pants and Jareth's eyes widened in astonishment. He quickly followed her lead and finally there were no more clothes between them. She moaned as she felt him hard between her legs and pushed towards  
him, curling her toes in anticipation.

"Please!" she silently begged him. "Don't make me ask you."

He must have seen the ultimate need reflected on her face and finally - finally - the agonizing wait was over.

He filled her so completely and perfectly that she thought they must have been made for one another. His eyes seemed to gaze into her very soul as he made love to her. She had not expected the amount of unspoken emotion that poured from him in the moments  
that followed. Time stood still and she only felt an immense amount of being loved unconditionally while lying in his arms. His sneering mask was gone and she saw the man underneath for the first time.

Unfortunately, shame and guilt quickly returned with the memory of where she was, who she was with and what had just occured between them.

Utterly disgusted at herself, she jumped up, pulled on her clothes and fled the room without even a further look at a visibly distressed Jareth.

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	13. Chapter 13

Jareth was wandering aimlessly around his castle. He really wanted to look for Sarah by scrying but knew that she did not want to see him so him simply hoped to stumble across her by sheer accident. Somehow though he knew that she was no longer inside his castle. She hated him, he was pretty sure of that and his heart felt like someone had ripped it out of his chest and trampled on it. But yet he knew that he deserved it. What had possessed him to trap her in his world?

To make matters worse, the headache was back with a vengeance. His temples were throbbing and a sharp stabbing pain occurred every so often. He could hardly think. Disoriented, he slumped against the wall, pulled up his legs and hit his head against the wall a couple of times to distract himself from the pain. It didn't work.

Something thick and hot slid from his nose towards his mouth but it barely registered. He could not do this anymore.

Blackness started encroaching on him. He blinked a couple of times. No difference. He needed to lie down and rest.

Craving oblivion, he lay down on the cold and damp stone floor, closed his eyes, hoping to escape the emotional and physical pain if only for a few minutes.

* * *

She did not know how she had found the way out and she did not even have to go through the labyrinth. There was what she now thought of as a front door that faced a wild forest. A cobble-stoned lane was leading straight into it but the path had quickly turned to a narrow and winding dirt path. She sighed. Of course it could not be a nice paved road leading to some city.

She was so tired and cold but there was nowhere to sleep comfortably. Leaning against a tree, she closed her eyes trying to summon energy to continue her journey. She had had only two hours sleep last night and the stress of the past few hours was draining her. What had she done?

He was pretty much a babynapper and it was most likely his "job" to take wished-away children. Who in their right mind had a job like that? Yes, she had asked him to take the baby but obviously had not really meant it. No normal person means something like that. And no normal person would follow up on that. But of course he wasn't normal. He wasn't even human. Human morals did not seem to apply to him.

To make matters worse she had slept with him even though he had tricked her. What was wrong with her? Why was she so attracted to him? It wasn't even about the sex, she was a modern woman living in NY, she had been intimate with boyfriends and even had an occasional one-night-stand. The problem was that she had done it with someone who she should have stayed away from due to his lack of human ethics.

"Sarah?" a familiar voice jarred her out of her thoughts by calling her name and she opened her eyes.

A small wrinkled figure stood in front of her.

"Hoggle!" she rushed towards him and hugged him.

"What are you doing here, Sarah?"

She sighed. "It's a long story. Basically, Jareth got hurt in my world and I wished myself away so he could get help. He didn't tell me I couldn't return as there was nobody to run the Labyrinth for me."

Hoggle slapped his head against his forehead. "Why would you do such a thing? You know he's a miserable rat! Although this time he really did it. The Sidhe council is not going to be happy. It's not like him to break the rules ..."

Sarah felt tears rising up in her eyes. "He distracted me. I wasn't thinking straight ..."

"How were you distracted?"

She sniffled, feeling utterly embarrassed in front of her friend.

Hoggle looked at her as she was turning bright red and suddenly he understood. "Oh, oh!"

"I tried to call you," she whispered. "But you didn't answer. Nobody did. I understand you must be so mad at me for not calling the past 10 years but I thought it had all been a very vivid nightmare. I was afraid testing if it had been real."

"It's ok. Not your fault. The rat closed the pathways. Didn't want anybody to have contact with you if he couldn't."

"But why would he even care?"

"There are rumors. Ever since you left he has barely been seen around and whenever one of us does meet him he is in the foulest mood any of the Labyrinth's inhabitants have ever witnessed. Some think he has finally gone completely insane, others think he is ..., well, never mind."

"He is what? Hoggle!"

"I'm not saying anything. He'll have my head!"

"Hoggle!"

"Fine, but you didn't hear it from me. He is lovesick! There!"

Sarah stared at Hoggle open-mouthed and completely aghast. Lovesick. It would explain a lot. No, it actually explained everything.

"But I was 15!"

"You were an adult by Sidhe standards. A very young one but an adult nonetheless."

Sarah still could barely believe it. "It doesn't matter anyway. I HATE the cheating bastard."

Hoggle narrowed his eyes, shook his head and muttered something nearly inaudible. She only caught the words "hates the rat, sure".

"I have to get out of here and find somebody to help me get home. Do you know anybody who could help me?"

Hoggle pointed to the path ahead. "That road there leads to the city of Emain Ablach. Someone might be able to assist you there but it will take a lot of magic to open the mists to your world."

"How far away is it?"

"About 1 1/2 days walking. I wish I could go with you but I can't. I can give you some food and water though. The path gets better. There is a nice lake with a sandy shore about two hours away where you could sleep. You look tired."

"Oh Hoggle, you have no idea how exhausted I am. And I appreciate all the help you can give. I know you can't come with me but I got to get away from here," she hesitated. "I have to get away from Jareth. I just can't be in the same place as him after what he did to me. Thank you for everything!"

She took the food and water he offered her and hugged him with tears in her eyes. "I will never forget you again. Promise."

* * *

Something small poked his face. Repeatedly. He opened his eyes only to be faced with a tiny goblin girl that would classify as a toddler in human years. "Hey! Yous ok?"

He sat up gingerly. The headache was nearly gone. Something sticky was underneath his nose. He started wiping it away with his gloves and realized it was blood.

"Yous hurt?" He just stared at the little goblin as she prodded his cheek. "It's ok, it's fine soon," the girl murmured and climbed on top of his knees, hugging half his torso.

She kept clutching him and he slowly patted her head. This was the first goblin to ever have shown some kind of affection towards him.

"There you are!" a female goblin exclaimed and snatched the goblin girl out of his arms. "Yous should NEVER bother kingy!" She grabbed the little goblin by one of her ears and pulled her away.

"I'm sorry, Mom!" the little girl exclaimed. "He looked hurt!"

"So sorry, yer majesty. It will not happen again." she quickly curtsied before scrambling away.

He stared at their retreating forms. Everybody either hated or feared him. The only ones who didn't did not know him - yet.

Life in his castle was unbearable. Partially it had been his fault but he had only become bitter and malicious out of pure loneliness.

His thoughts turned to Sarah. He had to explain to her what had happened. Nothing else mattered. She needed to know that he had not wanted to trap her. He had not been himself these past few hours and she had to know that. Even if she rejected him which was a real possibility - again.

But it was the right thing to do and with a heavy heart Jareth conjured a crystal and set out to find Sarah.


	14. Chapter 14

Sarah was completely exhausted when she finally reached the lake but nevertheless it took her breath away. The sun had set about an hour ago and the lake sparkled black and white in the silvery light of a full moon. Small waves lapped the shore causing blue bioluminescence whenever the water was being disturbed. She had seen pictures of something similar in her world before. The most famous photographs were of an island in the Maldives. She had never been but she was sure that this otherworldly display at least rivaled the one in her world if not surpassed it.

The sand was snow white in the moonlight, extraordinarily soft, it squeaked when she walked on it and her feet sometimes sank into it up to her calves in some places.

The lake itself was surrounded by mostly forest but a small part was backed by very large rocks that glittered vaguely in the moonlight. Sarah walked towards these rocks as they seemed a safe option for rest. No animal would be able to attack her from behind. The rocks at first seemed to stand in a straight line but on closer inspection they were slightly crooked and she moved towards where they formed an upside down L shape.

She lay down in this relatively safe space, pushed her back up against the wall and sighed in relief at the prospect of sleep. The rocks were still warm from the sun and she was grateful for their ability to store heat as she felt thoroughly frozen.

Closing her eyes, she herself drift off into much needed sleep.

* * *

Jareth watched Sarah sleep near Lake Ail Elu through one of his crystals. Her pale face shimmered in the moonlight, contrasted by the dark mass of her long hair. She looked peaceful and he enjoyed seeing her face without any animosity towards him reflected in it.

There was no point in stalling any longer. He twisted his hand, made the crystal disappear and transported himself to Lake Ail Elu.

Crouching down next to Sarah, his hand reached out, longing to touch her soft hair and face. He quickly withdrew it. She would not appreciate his touch if she were to wake up. He would never get to touch her or kiss her again thanks to his utter stupidity. Where had this craziness even come from? Sure, he was sometimes prone to get angry but he would never do something that would destroy all his carefully laid plans and cause someone he deeply cared for such emotional pain.

She was shivering in the cold night air, he conjured up a woolen blanket and covered her with it to give her some warmth.

Sadness enveloped him. She was lost to him forever after what he had done but although he knew she would never want to see him again, he needed to explain as best as he could why he had trapped her.

He leaned back against the rocks that her head rested against, close enough for her to see him once she woke up but of reach for any potential physical assaults or to cause her too much alarm.

He would let her catch up on sleep and then face her ire.

* * *

When Sarah awoke, the moon had moved across the sky and was no longer directly illuminating the lake. She blinked, stretched and sat up. Judging by the ambient light, it was just before sunrise. Somehow she had always been able to tell the slight difference in brightness that occurred in the few minutes before dawn. The sky was still as dark as night but something was different. Maybe it was the utter stillness or the fact that the night was always coldest just before dawn. Maybe she could indeed tell the difference between the various shades of darkness within the night sky ...

She saw him as soon as her eyes adjusted.

He was seated about 20 feet away, casually leaning against the rocks, his legs stretched out and he was watching her.

Anger welled up within her. "What is that you want, Goblin King? I'm not going back with you!"

He cringed at the sound of his title. Hearing anybody call him that was painful enough but knowing that she was using it on purpose instead of his name to hurt him tore him up inside. Although he didn't blame her for not knowing the history behind the Labyrinth and the Goblin King.

"I know," he replied quietly.

"I will fight you tooth and nail if you try to take me back."

His eyes widened in surprise and hurt crossed his face for a split second. "I'm not here to force you back either."

"Then why are you here?" she asked exasperated.

He kept quiet, not knowing how to begin.

"Why in the hell are you here, Goblin King?"

"I came to apologize."

"You what?"

"I'm sorry for tricking you Underground, Sarah."

She stared at him open-mouthed. Out of everything she had expected him to say, this had never even crossed her mind.

"You. Are. Sorry? SORRY? What the fuck was going on in your mind when you did it in the first place? You fucking tricked me when I tried to help you! And now you are sorry? What the fuck?", she yelled.

"I didn't mean to."

The irony was not lost on her.

"You didn't mean to," she stated deflated. "Really? How can you NOT MEAN to trap somebody in another world? This is so completely different from wishing my brother away. I didn't know any of this was real. If I had known I would have never done it. You on the other hand knew exactly what you were doing."

"Yes. I did. And I'm sorry. I'm here to explain what happened."

"Honestly, I don't care for your explanations. You can leave now."

"Sarah, please," he begged.

"No, there is nothing you can say. I don't accept your apology and I do not forgive you. You knew exactly what you were doing. And now you expect me to listen to your excuses? Hell no!"

Jareth pulled up his legs and wrapped his arms around them.

"I haven't been myself these last few hours. I came to see you in New York because ...," his voice faltered, "Because I wanted you to get to know me. And maybe, just maybe, you would like me," he finished. His voice had become so soft she had trouble hearing what he was saying. Hoggle's words came back to her mind, "He's love-sick!"

"Tricking you into my world had never been on my mind. I cannot explain what happened, but everything was suddenly different when I woke up in your room. I didn't care anymore about consequences. I was sick of being lonely and not getting what I wanted. The pain, the pain of being alone for centuries was gone. I felt so free. Nothing mattered anymore. All I knew was that I wanted you and had to have you no matter the consequences. I know it is not a good excuse but it is all I have and I'm very sorry Sarah. Something is very wrong with me. I think I have gone insane. I cannot think straight. Terrible headaches come and go that make me lose consciousness. I woke up from one and suddenly felt all this regret. It isn't what I meant to do. I never wanted to cause you pain. I also know that you cannot forgive me and I don't expect you to but I just really needed you to know," his voice broke at the last words and he rested his head on his knees.

His confession felt like a slap in her face. How could she have been so stupid?

* * *

Please review!

Sorry, I meant to write more but really got to go to bed! The next chapter will come much sooner and will also be shorter as it's the second part of this chapter.


	15. Chapter 15

She noticed that Jareth was hugging his legs and was leaning his head against them. His hands seemed to be shaking and she experienced a sharp emotional pain. This was her doing. She didn't quite comprehend all that was going on and frankly that apprehension was still far out of reach. His world was a mystery to her, there was just so much she did not understand. What had he meant by centuries of loneliness? He couldn't possible mean that literally, could he?

Suddenly she noticed the blanket that was still partially wrapped around her shoulders. He had put a blanket over her. She grasped the blanket and pulled it towards her for closer inspection. It was a simple woolen blanket and she knew that she did not have it before falling asleep. She remembered being utterly cold and huddling close to the rocks for warmth. Her memories left her with only one rational option. An option that made her feel sick to the bone but not for the reasons she usually would. He had cared enough to provide her with a blanket seeing that she was freezing. He had cared. Whereas she hadn't.

Her stomach contracted. She was a horrible person. He was obviously sick and she had used him and discarded him like trash. Granted, he had scared her but she should have known better. She had witnessed him getting hurt, she had cleaned him up but yet she had doubted him when he had shown her a side of him that was confused. She definitely should have known better. Personality changes after a concussion were common. Why had she not thought of that?

Because she had always thought the worst of him.

Slowly she stood up, wrapped the blanket around her shoulders and staggered through the uneven sand over to Jareth.

"Hey," she whispered while crouching next to him, one hand on his knee.

He lifted his head and looked up at her, eyes glistening suspiciously but his voice was steady.

"There are times when the veil between the worlds is thin...," he started and then expounded his explanation at her startled looks. "Sometimes our worlds are physically closer together and it is easier to cross the divide at these times. That's how I was able to visit you. It takes a lot of magic but it's possible. You can find help in Emain Ablach. Powerful Sidhe live there that will help you for a price."

He held out a small pouch, "Here, take this. They are gold coins. That will buy you housing, food and help and it will also last you a while, just in case. I'd take you there myself but I know you don't trust me. Hell, I don't trust myself at this point."

Sarah stared dumbfounded at the little pouch and back at Jareth. He was trying to help her. If he had wanted to trick her and was lying why would he then send her away? Everything was such a mess.

Jareth pressed the small purse into her hands. "I'll also try to find a spell that will take you home. You'll get home. I promise. Goodbye, Sarah." He attempted to stand up.

"Wait! Please don't go!" she held onto his arm.

He turned to her, surprise registering on his face.

"I'm also sorry, Jareth."

"What for? You didn't do anything wrong."

"Yes, I did. I always assumed the worst of you. I didn't take your feelings into consideration. I actually thought you didn't have any and were just evil and manipulative. And I was wrong. Very wrong. I even used you for ... you know."

She kneeled down next to him, covered him with the blanket as well and hugged him. The stress seemed to leave his body as soon as she did and his arms wrapped around her back underneath the blanket. As she pulled him even closer towards her, he rested his head on her shoulder and she softly stroked his hair as he kept murmuring how sorry he was.

"It'll be alright Jareth. We'll figure this out. Together. I won't leave you. I trust you to find a way to bring me home."

He lifted his head and looked into her eyes, concern written all over his face. "Sarah, I don't trust myself. You cannot stay with me. I don't know what I'm capable of doing."

She smiled tenderly at him and caressed the side of his face. Her fingers felt a faint trace of wetness on his cheek that she had not noticed before. He flinched slightly when he became aware that she had discovered he had cried.

"You weren't yourself Jareth. You have a concussion but you are already doing much better. I'm here for you. You don't have to be alone anymore. I mean it."

She rested her forehead against his, her hands around his neck.

"Sarah, you have no idea how much you mean to me." Butterflies started fluttering like crazy in her stomach.

"I think I might do."

She moved a fraction forward and kissed him on the lips. "I think I also care about you, I just never dared to admit it."

Jareth didn't waste another second and kissed her back so lovingly that her lips started tingling and she thought she might melt on the inside. She deepened the kiss as the first rays of sun crossed the horizon. Never had she felt so utterly happy and content than in that moment kissing Jareth.

All of a sudden she fell forward onto a cold, hard floor. As she looked up, everything was spinning around her but she did recognize her apartment before passing out. Her last thought was Jareth.

* * *

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	16. Chapter 16

Jareth fell forward onto the soft sand. Disoriented, he looked around for Sarah. Not seeing her anywhere, panic took hold and he screamed her name multiple times to no avail. Feeling at a loss, he slumped down, shaking all over in panic. Where was she? Where had she gone? Somebody must have used magic and transported her elsewhere but why and where? He couldn't lose her. Not now. Not when she had forgiven him and there had been a chance of a future although it meant he had to visit her in her world. That however was more than satisfactory with him. Anything to get away from this prison.

He felt both anger and fear slice through his veins. Whoever had done that, they would have to pay if they had hurt her. Except, well, except if it was THEM. He could do nothing against THEM. He had broken the rules by bringing her back into his realm but he had been out of his mind ... Unfortunately, he also knew that these were just technicalities to THEM. Rules were rules. Tendrils of ice-cold fear slithered over his body. He felt sick to his stomach. He couldn't do anything against THEM as they ruled him and because of that he hated THEM with all his heart.

Suddenly he felt a strong pull on his entire body. A summons. He despised summons. Humans had stories of genies in bottles that were coerced to do whatever the person that freed them from the bottle wanted them to do by granting wishes. He was NOT a genie but he could sympathize with them - not that they actually existed.

Every story though had a grain of truth within it and he sometimes had wondered if the story of the Goblin King was the grain of truth behind jinn stories. As far-fetched as that tale was from his real life.

The summons kept calling him and he felt actual physical pain by refusing to respond. He knew it would not get any better ignoring it. His skin was on fire and his bones were hurting. Soon it would result in him doubling over in pain. He cursed. Usually, this discomfort was due to a wished-away child but since Sarah had just disappeared he was betting on it being THEM.

Reluctantly, he stopped holding on to his current reality and let the magic take him away.

Slightly disoriented, he found himself in a a circular amphitheater made of large black stone slabs. Huge oak trees surrounded the space, casting shade over the theatre and obscuring any early morning sun rays that had crept over the horizon. The brightest stars still blinked in and out giving the appearance of dark twilight. Large torches flickered to the left and right of him and cast ominous shadows across the stone expanse.

Ten hooded figures stood on the dais above him.

"Jareth Orch Aran, son of Daegon, do you know why you have been summoned?" one of the officials enquired.

"That is NOT my name, nor my father's name and you know that very well," Jareth hissed.

"It IS your and your father's name now and you better not ever speak of the other name again as you have been forbidden to use it," the speaker boomed. "Jareth Morgalad does not exist and has never existed as you were born after your father took the throne of Orch Aran, Goblin King! You better not defy us any longer or the consequences will be more severe. I ask you one more time, Jareth Orch Aran, do you know why you have been summoned?"

Jareth seethed. "I believe so, Your Eminence."

"Go on, Jareth Orch Aran."

Great, absolutely fantastic and quite typical of THEM. He had to incriminate himself before hearing any actual charges.

"I have broken Sidhe law and tricked a human woman into Tír na nÓg without there being a wished-away child to run the Labyrinth as a chance to win the child back."

"That is correct, Jareth Orch Aran," resonated the voice.

"Your Eminence, I need to explain. I followed Sarah into her world to win her heart but there was an accident..."

"Enough! We have no need to hear your explanations. We know exactly what transpired. We perceived the shift in magical energy from when you first transported yourself into her world and have been watching ever since. Unfortunately our hands were bound while you were on Earth but as soon as you and the woman returned we were able to harness our combined power to set things right. You are no better than your father!"

Jareth cringed at the insult. "What I have done doesn't even come close to the crime my father committed! I have acted out of love, not out of a twisted sense of racial superiority that led to genocide and nearly destroyed our race!"

"You are Unseelie, Jareth Orch Aran, just like your father."

"Why do you keep punishing me for the sins of my father?" he yelled. "I have never done anything even close to it and you know that I wasn't even born when his crime took place!" He wanted to scream that it wasn't fair but held his tongue. That was what Sarah would say, with her human understanding of "fairness". His world was too different. What somebody said was binding since the sidhe could not lie. It was the same as somebody doing something in Sarah's world.

What's said is said. What's done is done. Same thing.

"Jareth Orch Aran, you have spent too much time with humans. You sound like them and you even look like them. What has happened to your semblance? I can see you used magic recently and you at least look slightly respectable like a sidhe but you could still pass for a human if you were to cross the veil. This is unacceptable."

"Well, maybe I have spent too much time with humans because I'm an outcast amongst my own people, surrounded by half-witted goblins and actually TASKED to trick humans to wish children away to us," he gritted out.

"Now, Jareth Orch Aran, we have been generous. Your father was not allowed to attend any society events whereas you are. He was confined to his castle and his powers bound for centuries. You have been allowed to roam relatively free and do as you please. We even were generous enough to allow you to say goodbye to your human friend."

"Generous? You were generous? I did NOT say goodbye to Sarah, you simply transported her away! I was not aware of what you were doing and neither was she. As for social events, I am forced to wear the emblem of the Goblin King so every sidhe is exactly aware of who I am. There were some curious sidhe who wanted to get to know me but for the most part nobody wanted or wants to socialize with the son of the most hated person in Tír na nÓg. Even the ones that were intrigued did not want to have anything to do with me once their curiosity was satisfied. You have made me an outcast. It is not fair! I never did anything wrong. I only have the wrong father!" Jareth yelled in exasperation.

The speaker of the Sidhe Council regarded him with utmost disdain.

"Quiet!", he bellowed.

"You have committed a crime just like the Unseelie that you are. Your punishment will be 200 years of bound powers. You will only be able to use your magic when there is a wished-away child. Sarah Williams' memory of you and the Labyrinth will be erased just as you should have done in the first place."

Jareth paled in complete shock. "No! You can't do that! Don't take her memory! Anything but that. Please..."

The council member cocked his head and regarded Jareth from his higher vantage point showing clear contempt on his face. "We are simply fixing what you should have done in the first place," he stated with an eerily calm that rattled Jareth's nerves.

"Her memories have already been taken away. You will spend the next 200 years only doing your job and not getting involved with humans unless absolutely necessary. Someone has to be the Goblin King thanks to your father. Someone has to ensure our race will not die out. The human children are a necessity. The goblins can traverse the veil easily once a wish has been made. Your task is of utter importance to our survival and you should be grateful that you have been allowed to live after what your father did. That is our final word."

The speaker waved his hand and Jareth vanished from the amphitheater. Once the disorientation subsided he realized that he was back in his throne room. Immediately, he tried to conjure a crystal. Nothing happened. In utter shock, he sank to his knees and screamed.

* * *

I have taken the names of places, titles and surnames from Sindarin, the language Tolkien made up. And no, I don't own that language either or anything related to Tolkien, so please don't sue.

Here is a list of meanings that have been used in this chapter and in the previous ones.

Ail Elu: Blu Pool/Lake

Orch Aran: Goblin King

Daegon: Shadow Lord

Morgalad: Black Glitter (sounds so much better in Sindarin but perfect last name for Jareth)

Emain Ablach: Apple Island (this is a mythical island in Irish mythology, not Tolkien, I made it into a city)

* * *

Please review! I live for reviews! Thanks!


	17. Chapter 17

The very persistent hammering coming from her front door woke Sarah up. Groggily, she staggered to the door and opened it. Jessica was standing outside and immediately gave her a bear hug as soon as the door openened.

"OMG! Sarah! I'm so glad you are alright. I've been calling you all night and day since you disappeared on me last night! What happened? People were saying somebody got run over by a car and I was so worried!"

"I just woke up on the floor. Don't remember anything since I left you to get a drink."

Jessica's face fell in horror but she quickly arranged back into a calm mask. "The phone didn't even wake you up?" She stalked over to the phone and lifted the receiver. No sound. She followed the cord and found it unplugged.

"Why is your phone unplugged?"

"It is?" Sarah wrinkled her forehead in thought." Oh, I think it's still unplugged from last weekend when we went out. I didn't want anybody to wake me up early on Sunday morning after we went out and I unplugged it. I totally forgot about it."

Jessica snickered. "That's something that could totally happen to me as well! At least that mystery is solved. But Sarah, you were passed out on the floor for hours and now you have no memory. I'm really worried."

"I feel fine. Seriously. I'm more worried about Trish. Did she throw a fit? I hope she's not going to fire me. She's such a crazy micromanaging bitch!"

"Don't worry. I mean she wasn't happy you didn't show up but she's not going to fire you for being sick. Look, I'm really concerned that somebody might have slipped you something. You should go see a doctor ASAP and get a drug test done. You didn't do this on purpose. Legally, she cannot fire you."

"Yeah, she'll just be more crazy towards me. If the devil wore Prada ..."

Jessica laughed out loud. "Maybe you should write a book."

"Who would buy a book about an assistant whining about her boss?" Sarah snorted.

Jessica suddenly wasn't listening anymore but stared intently at the floor next to Sarah's bed.

"Sarah, whose boots and jacket are these?"

"What do you mean by boots and jacket?" her voice faded off as she saw the items her friend was referring to. She swallowed nervously and mumbled softly. "I have no idea."

Jessica motioned for Sarah to sit on the bed and once she was seated she took hold of her hands. "Sarah, please listen to me. Something happened. You don't remember at least 18 hours of your life. You woke up on the floor. There are boots and a jacket that clearly belong to a man in your apartment. Please. Let's go get you checked out. Right now."

Sarah blinked away tears. Jessica made perfect sense. She needed to see if she had been violated. Except that her heart told her that she hadn't been.

"I don't think I got roofied. It just doesn't feel like I did."

"Sweetie, you are in denial. I wish you were right. I really do. It's just that, well, the evidence points to something having happened to you."

"I know what it looks like. But I know that's not what happened," she replied stubbornly.

"Ok, but you did lose your memory. Something is definitely wrong. Let's get you checked out just in case. Plus, Trish certainly cannot fire you if you went to see a doctor."

Tears were now streaming down Sarah's face. Jessica hugged her and whispered how everything would be alright.

As if on autopilot, Sarah got dressed, grabbed her purse and got into the cab that Jessica had hailed. Everything was a haze and she was just following along. When she was sitting in the waiting room of the urgent care clinic she started sobbing. Except it was not for the reasons everybody around her thought it was.

* * *

The goblins were scattering to the far sides of the throne room as Jareth was screaming at the top of his lungs. He was shaking all over with rage. Slowly he was gaining self control again. Scared goblin eyes were watching him behind whatever hiding place they had found.

Jareth glared at the spectators with such hatred and wrath that the goblins which had still dared to be present fled in a panic. He rose and stormed out of his throne room to find relative peace in his own quarters. No goblin would dare disturb him there.

Nobody could know what had happened. He would try his best to hide that he no longer had powers. No magic. For 200 years! That was approximately 100 years in Sarah's time. They had chosen that time frame deliberately. She would either be dead or on her deathbed when he would be able to visit her again. And he could carry out his duties as Goblin Kind then since they currently had enough children to prevent his race from dying. Although humans needed small reminders to wish for children to be taken away, 100 human years were considered nothing especially since the story was still circulating in their world and children were being wished away.

The goblins would run amok if they knew he was powerless. No more threats of the bog of eternal stench. He remembered the stories of when his father was Goblin King and his powers had been bound. The goblins had pretty much overrun the entire castle and labyrinth and his father had been unable to stop them. They had not been malevolent but due to their nature, the filth and partying which the goblins had an affinity for had not presented pleasant living conditions for his father.

He would have to avoid that chaos as much as possible. Out of habit he twisted his wrist for a glass of whiskey. He desperately needed a drink. Nothing appeared. He clenched his hand in anger and hatred towards THEM. He had done absolutely nothing wrong in his life except that being his father's son had condemned him to a life of loneliness as the Goblin King. How the rest of the sidhe supported their decision was beyond his understanding.

They still needed him though to fulfill the role as Goblin King. It was only a matter of time until a child would be wished away. A few years at the most. Unfortunately, humans had lost their belief in anything but the science of their world and he feared at how long it would take for the next human to make their wish. Magic to humans was supernatural but in his realm it was normal. Unfortunately their science had not yet taught them that different worlds with different physical properties existed.

Finally he found the wine bottle in his rooms that he had nearly forgotten about. No need to call any goblins for food or drink yet. Another day to pretend he had magic.

As he took a big gulp of the wine and felt it's numbing liquid reach his blood, he devised a plan on how to break out of his prison.

* * *

The tests at the urgent care clinic had been just as invasive as she had feared. Swabs, blood and urine samples. Nobody believed that there was something wrong with her mind. Everybody was convinced she had been violated and was in denial.

To make matters worse, the tests came back positive. She had had sexual relations very recently. The nurse gave her the Morning-After Pill and implored her to take it - just in case. All the other tests were STD and drug tests that she would have to wait for them to call her with the results.

Sarah was relieved when she was finally back home and Jessica had left. The past few hours had been overwhelming. She was convinced that she had NOT been raped but nobody believed her. How else had she lost her memories if not for date rape drugs? How else had she have had sex without remembering?

She gathered the leather jacket from the floor and hugged it close to her. If she had been drugged and violated, why did the smell of this jacket make her feel so relaxed and happy? It made no sense at all.

With tears in her eyes, she collapsed on her bed and embraced the jacket. It smelled unlike anything she had smelled before, the fragrance gave her comfort and made her feel calm. When she finally drifted away to sleep, her dreams were full images of a fantastical world that included a magical labyrinth and a man called Jareth who was the king of the goblins.

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	18. Chapter 18

It was late at night and pretty much everybody was sleeping. The lone figure clad in a midnight black cloak pulled over it's head was moving through the shadows out of the Goblin King's castle and into the dark forest hoping to be unobserved by whoever or whatever was still awake. Moving along the winding path the black figure was trying to stay shrouded in darkness as much as it could. It walked for hours along the trail until exhaustion took over and it slumped against the trunk of a large tree.

Light blonde hair peaked out underneath the hood of the black cloak when it raised leather gloved hands to provide a much needed rest for it's tired head. The moon was only a narrow crescent in the sky and the stars did not provide much light. If there had been sufficient ambient light, the casual observer would have noticed the face of a seemingly exhausted man underneath the cloak.

Jareth sighed. He was maybe half way to his destination. Not having any horses in his castle was definitely a disadvantage. He never had needed the use of any kind of transportation - not with his powers. But now, with his current predicament, he very much wished he had had at least one horse in his nonexistent stables.

He sincerely hoped that nobody had seen him leave the castle. He was trying to be incognito, wearing plain black pants, boots and a very simple dark shirt. Hopefully nobody would question or even recognize him. Luckily there was no "television" or "photography" as in Sarah's world and it would be much more difficult for anybody to identify him. He had taken off his medallion, the purpose of it being a sort "verification" as to who the wearer was and for that reason the council had not given him permission to remove it. What was it that Sarah would say in her colorful language? Ah, yes, it would be something of along the lines of "Fuck that!" The recollection of her devil-may-care idioms made him smile. Humans had only very recently developed a quite relaxed attitude to cursing and life in general that seemed to have coincided with the arrival of their science.

Memories of his medallion and how he had been forced to wear it for the rest of his life inundated his mind. It was now somewhere on ground below his balcony where he had thrown it in a wild rage. He did not regret his outburst at all. That medallion was a constant reminder of his imprisonment. Except that he was never referred to as a prisoner but a "king". However, he had no freedom to leave his position and especially now he was forced to stay in his so-called "kingdom" for the next 200 years. He wasn't a king. The title was a farce. Especially since he was "king" over a bunch of goblins.

Nobody could know that he had left his castle. He feared that even the dim-witted goblins suspected he had no magical powers anymore. Chaos would ensue if that fact would ever see the light of day. Every moment he spent away from his castle led to the possibility of some goblin discovering that he was gone. A few hours meant nothing. A day was too much. They would wonder. And then they would celebrate to have the castle to themselves. He groaned at the thought of goblins destroying his rooms. There was not much left in his life but at least he could have peace while the goblins were afraid of him and the threat of the bog of stench fresh in their minds.

He had to keep going just so he could return to his castle in time and continue the farce that was his life. Until someone called for a chlld to be taken away. He didn't know when that would happen but he hoped it would be soon. That wish would mean his freedom.

Slowly, he stood up and stretched his muscles. He would have to continue on his way without rest. Every second counted. What if someone wished a child away and he was not ready? He would have to wait for the next opportunity. Or he would have to take his chances in her world being completely unprepared.

Only another 14 hours of walk to Emain Ablach where he hoped to encounter one of his old trusted friends from childhood who might be able to help him escape his prison. The question was not if he could help him but if he would.

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	19. Chapter 19

"It will hurt. A lot. You are aware of that, aren't you?"

"Yes," Jareth affirmed. "But I have no other choice."

"It will be permanent."

"I know that, Cian," Jareth nearly growled. "Just get it over already." Jareth stared up at the vaulted sand-stone colored ceilings of his friend's residence, hoping he would be able to persuade him.

Cian sighed at his friend's impatience although he did understand it. "Jareth, there is no coming back from this." Cian's silver eyes flashed for a brief second with held back emotion and his long black hair was raised by the static his magic wielded. His handsome face held concern in it's gaze.

"Cian! Listen to me. I have no other choice. I cannot be a prisoner for the rest of my life for something I didn't even do! I don't care if this means that I will never again be fully part of Tír na nÓg because ever since I became Goblin King I have been an outcast. You know this. I'm beyond caring and I rather be a nobody on Earth than a prisoner here. Now, are you going to help me or not?"

The silence was deafening as the two old friends regarded each other.

Cian was the first to break the silence. "Of course I'll help you. That was never the question. l worry about you and I do will miss you though. If there was a way to help you and stop the Council's insane vendetta, I would. You know that."

Resolute, Jareth was facing his old friend. "I know, I do wish there was another way as well."

Although struggling with himself, ultimately, Cian gave in and held out a vial of frothing purple liquid. "This will dull the pain a bit. You better drink up."

* * *

The blinding body aches of an ignored summoning combined with the memory of the procedure Cian had performed on him pulled him out of his daydream.

A summoning. Someone had wished a child away. He could hardly believe it was finally happening.

He had to leave for her world. Right now. Finally. It had taken way too long. Time passed differently in other worlds. His world had two more hours in the day than hers, only 28 days each month and 13 months in a year. But that wasn't the only difference. Time literally went by faster in Tír na nÓg. Approximately double the amount than on Earth. Off the top of his head he had no idea how much time had passed. A few more years. She should be still alive and fairly young.

For the first couple of years he had kept up with the time difference. But then he had become complacent. Without him being able to push humans to wish a child away as he had done with Sarah and Toby by making sure the book he had conjured for this specific purpose had gotten into to her hands, hardly anybody remembered the old stories and said the right words. Before his powers had been bound he had been grateful that he was in fact not a genie and that the simply words of "I wish" would not force him across realms.

Nowadays, it would have been much easier if that had been the case.

A long shudder went through him as an icy sliver of magic suddenly took over and forced the Goblin King's regalia on him. Looking down on himself he noticed the familiar night black garments consisting of ornate breastplate, shirt, tight pants, knee-high boots, leather gloves and midnight blue cloak. Frantically, he felt for the pouch he always carried on him.

At first he could not detect it as the breastplate obscured all touch but when he felt beneath it he could tell that it was still safely wrapped across his chest underneath his clothes.

It was now or never. He had to let go as the pull was getting stronger and more uncomfortable with every passing second. Looking around his room one last time, more concerned with forgetting anything than actually remembering his "home" which he had considered his prison for the past couple of hundred years, he let go of any resistance.

Untamed magic opened the veil between the worlds and his essence was painfully tugged across realms.

* * *

Sarah took another sip of her Vinho Verde. She loved that wine, it only got her tipsy due to it's slightly lower alcohol content and it tasted fantastic. "Cheers to Trader Joe's", she thought.

On her TV screen, an old episode of Once Upon a Time played. She barely payed attention the show as her mind was occupied with the Emmy Awards of 2016 that she had been invited to and actually been nominated for an award. She could hardly believe it. Having lived the life of an unknown actress for the past 15 years had been very rough if it had not been for her day job. But about three years ago, one of her numerous auditions had finally paid off and she had gotten a recurring role. That character had turned out to be so popular that it had become a main character. Her life had pretty much changed overnight and she had quit her flight attendant job for that role.

That role had been her entry into the life of a professional full-time actress who actually directors running after her.. But that had been all that had changed. There had been TV appearances, interviews, pictures in magazines and now this nomination.

However, for some inconceivable reason she could not fall in love. Nobody truly interested her although she had tried. Other flight attendants, passengers, and then co-stars. There was nothing truly wrong with most of them except that she just did not feel anything but friendship. As if there was somebody else she kept thinking of but of course that was not the case. She never had truly fallen in love. But she held on the hope that the one she seemed to be holding out for was out there somewhere.

The theme of the TV show suddenly pulled her out of her thoughts. It was the words True Love that had gotten her attention and she started to watch the show playing in front of her. All she caught though was the tail end of the conversation between the Evil Queen and Belle.

 _Evil Queen: "Besides, if he loves you, he would've let you go. And if he doesn't love you, well, then the kiss won't even work."_

 _Belle: "Well, he did let me go."_

 _Evil Queen: "Yes, but no kiss happened."_

 _Belle: "And a kiss ... A kiss is enough? He'd be a man again?"_

 _Evil Queen: "An ordinary man. True love's kiss will break any curse."_

Tears started welling up in Sarah's eyes and she swallowed them down, pressing the off button on the television. Why in the world was she watching this nonsense? More importantly, why was she even emotionally affected by some TV show characters. Could it be that their love life was much better than hers?

Well, yes, but that wasn't it.

It was the whole "True Love's Kiss" bullshit. It didn't exist. Why did the movie industry INSIST on pushing it down everybody's throat? Why did she even care.

She was now sobbing wholeheartedly. This was ridiculous. Downing the rest of her wine, she pulled her legs up, rested her head on them and started crying to hard that she could barely stop.

What was her problem? She should be celebrating! She was nominated for an Emmy and pretty much all her life was finally going into the right direction.

True Love's Kiss. True Love's Fucking Kiss. What nonsense. 'It will break any curse.' Who came up with this shit?

There was no such thing as True Love. But why then did she feel so hollow? As if she had loved but lost?

And that whole curse stuff? Definitely ridiculous. However, some tiny part of her believed that True Love's Kiss could break any curse. Or was it that she wanted to believe this out of her loneliness?

He had let her go.

Who had let her go? She shook her head. Where were these thoughts coming from? They made no sense.

She really should see somebody. The recurring dreams were now taking over her thoughts, as if they were real memories.

Wiping away her tears, she mumbled underneath her breath, "I wish Jareth the Goblin King would take me to the Emmys."

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	20. Chapter 20

In complete shock at her own words, she clamped her hand over her mouth, held her breath and looked around her room, partially expecting a man from a different world to appear. A very handsome man. With real magical powers.

She waited with bated breath for at least a minute, anticipating sniggering coming from corners and windows being pushed open by a strong wind.

But nothing happened and she wasn't quite sure if she was relieved or disappointed.

Heart hammering in her chest, she chuckled nervously. Earth to Sarah. Crazy dreams were not real. They were just dreams. No matter how many times they repeated themselves.

Just over a month left until the Telecast and the Governor's Ball. Maybe she could get herself a date. And if not, she might just win an Emmy and show the world what she was made of.

* * *

"You're the Goblin King, aren't you?" the teenager inquired. "How can you even be real?" The male human, no older than 13 years by Jareth's estimations, cowered before him, scared out of his wits but despite the fear the kid did not give up. "Where is my sister? Give her back to me!"

He would have reveled in his fear not so long ago and would have drawn out the wisher's discomfort for as long as possible. Making other's feel uncomfortable had been the only entertainment in his dismal life for centuries. He cringed at the memories. He barely knew who he really was nowadays let alone what his true personality had been before his extended isolation. He only knew who he was trying to be.

Instead of offering the boy his dreams, knowing that he would decline anyway as every human before him had done, he simply turned sideways, pointed behind him towards the inter dimensional hole that he knew was open at this point and spoke the words he had said so often.

"He's there, in my castle. Do you still want her back? You will have to look for her."

"Is that the castle beyond the goblin city?"

"Time is short. You have 13 hours in which to solve the labyrinth before your sister becomes one of us. Forever."

He hadn't even tried to dissuade the boy from winning his sister back. No offering of his dreams. No warnings. He knew humans by now. So far, nobody had taken their dreams or headed his warnings to not win back the child they had wished away. Nobody had truly believed the stories. Human disbelief was how the sidhe had gotten the children.

Wishes. What's said is said. When the Sidhe Council had realized that humans hadn't truly understood what they had wished for they had created the labyrinth. It had given humans a choice to take back their wish by solving it. Only a very small number had indeed beaten it. It was designed to not be beaten. The children were mean to be kept. He had helped Sarah and suspected the Council knew but had ignored his faux pas for what they had considered the greater good. The Goblin King was needed according to them. Until they had realized they could no longer look away and had to take action.

The boy was now looking at him, scared and confused.

"Go!" Jareth implored him. "If you make it to the throne room of the castle in 13 hours you will get your sister back. You already wasted two minutes."

The portal was still open and unlike with all the other wishers he had not crossed into his realm with the wisher and closed off the gateway to Earth. The kid stared at him one last time and finally stepped through the portal.

"Ask Hoggle to help you," Jareth shouted in an afterthought at the closing opening, feeling like he needed to help the boy. But the portal had already darkened and he was not sure if his words had been heard.

The resounding silence was eerie. No scurrying goblin noises or suppressed laughter to be heard anywhere. When he listened closely, a clock ticked quietly in the distance.

The child and the kid who had wished her away were both gone.

And he was still here. On Earth.

He had done it.

It dawned on him that he had to get out of wherever he currently was. Two children were missing and it certainly would not look good should anybody find him.

As he made his way downstairs, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The image that was reflected in it showed a pale man with wild blonde hair, face shimmering with the residue of what he knew was magic. His dark clothes stood out in stark contrast to the room he was in. White furniture with clean lines dominated. The only accent of color were a type of dark pink flowers that did not grow in his world. He stood out like a sore thumb.

Her world had always changed so quickly. Not only regarding design and fashion but also technology. Point in case was the huge black flat item that hung on one wall opposite the sofa. It looked like what they used to call a TV except that it was about double the size to what he was used to and also no longer bulky.

He needed to stop gaping and leave. Quickly he pulled the cape off his shoulders as well as his breastplate and wrapped the cape around it. Taking one last look in the mirror he gratefully noticed that he looked slightly less foreign. Still strange, especially with his hair and facial glitter but the magic would fade and so would it's remnants.

Thankfully, the street outside the house he had been wished to was deserted of people and very quiet. He guessed it was quite late at night. Cicadas chirped and street lamps provided pools of yellow light. It was an upscale residential area. All the houses looked well kept, fairly big and had front yards. He hesitated for only a second and then moved as inconspicuously as possible towards the direction that had the least light emanating from it while making sure to stick to the shadows.

After a couple of blocks the road ended at a cliff. Only a few lights blinked below. He turned left, walking along the cliff towards the blackness he could see ahead.

Not much longer. He was close to finding a resting place so he could gather his thoughts. The adrenaline of the past couple of hours and the stress of the last few years was taking it's toll. He was fading fast.

Stairs. Leading down into the darkness towards the bottom of the cliff.

He was no longer thinking clearly. Disjointed thoughts crept into his mind and he continued on autopilot.

 _Go down the many stairs. Turn left further into the darkness. Sneak into that alley trying not to be seen by drunk humans next to a place called "Patrick's Roadhouse". Throw wadded up clothes into huge trash can by "Patrick's Roadhouse". Gloves as well. Cover with other trash. Try to look normal. Cross street towards the darkness. Thankfully no - what were they called again - yes, "cars", anywhere to be seen. Strange smell in the air. Salt. Crashing sounds. Over and over again. What was that? Softness beneath his boots. Sand. A beach. The crashing sound were waves._

He took a deep breath and tried to clear his tired mind.

Blackness stretched for as far as he could see towards the right and on the left it was only interrupted by an enormous wheel that blinked with colored blue and purple lights in the distance.

Humans and their strange but amazing inventions. Whatever that wheel actually was escaped his mind.

He was by an ocean. The salt smell was a giveaway. No idea where exactly. He hadn't been near a real ocean for centuries. Worn out, he sat down on the cool soft sand, dug his hands into it and let the sand run through his them. He started grinning like a small boy. Sure, there were amazing beaches in Tír na nÓg but this was Earth. And he was free.

No more prison. A fresh start.

His mind was giving in now that he could relax. So tired. So utterly tired.

He laid down on the sand and curled up. Just a short rest. Then he would find Sarah. Sarah. Please let her be ok. Please. But if she wasn't at least he was free. No. He couldn't think that way. She was ok. She had to be. And she'd liked him before. He'd make her fall for him again. And this time he wasn't even the villain.

Everything would turn out ok. He had crossed worlds for her. It had to be ok. It had to be. With those thoughts repeating in his mind he finally fell into a deep but yet uneasy sleep.

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	21. Chapter 21

The bright sunlight of early morning woke Jareth up. He pushed himself into a sitting position and gazed across the ocean. How had he slept the entire night? He had only wanted to gather his thoughts but somehow the stress of the past years had caught up with him. He now had to figure out his next steps and when he was honest with himself it scared him. Although he had thought about being on Earth for so long, reality was still different. It was not his home. This realm literally had distinct physical laws. He had never spent more than a few hours in it and did not now how anything worked. On top of that, human "technology" lately had advanced so quickly, it was very difficult to keep up.

The beach was still fairly deserted and only a few humans jogged along a winding path. People. Not humans. It would look very strange if he kept using that word.

He had to get off the beach and get going. There was just so much to do.

Thirst was the most pressing thing on his mind and he kept walking towards the giant wheel since it promised civilization. Half-way there he came across a small grey structure made out of what looked like stone. Instead of a door, one side was completely open and as he stepped inside he found sinks lining one side of the wall whereas the opposite one featured individual cubicles.

Not caring whether the water would be safe to drink he opened the faucet and drank until his thirst was quenched. Splashing water into his face, he regarded himself in the mirror. He looked unremarkable. He looked human. Emotional pain of homesickness rippled through him. This was it. He had missed the magic for years and although it had been forced upon him to collect a wished-away child it had still felt great experiencing the electric sensations humming across his skin again.

The effects of the magic had worn off as he had expected it would. Usually it only took a few hours depending on his use of magic and since he had barely touched it his hair was no longer static and his skin had lost the magical glimmer probably hours ago.

He looked ordinary. But although he appeared human he certainly was not one and he would have to make sure nobody noticed. Basically he couldn't get sick. He grimaced at the thought and pushed his long hair out of his face. It was way too long and unevenly layered for Earth unless their fashion had changed as it did so often which he doubted based on the men he had seen on the beach so far. He shouldn't have given up hope and grown complacent.

Lifting his shirt, he opened the pouch that was wrapped around his chest and removed a "credit card", "drivers license" and a few dollars which he had found in the junkyard. The documents were a gift from his friend Cian who had magically arranged for them to show an appropriate age depending on the year he would arrive on Earth. Other items included a "passport" which he was told was necessary to travel between "countries" and a "social security number" that he needed for work in the United States which was the country Sarah lived in. The passport had been an afterthought by Cian, just in case he would be summoned to another country. He shook his head at the strangeness of it all and sincerely hoped he was in the "United States". Figuring out how to cross these borders and fly on a "plane" to another country sounded like a lot of stress to him. Who knew if the magic would hold? What if his documents ended up not being authentic enough?

With one last look in the mirror making sure he did not look too strange, he decided to take the plunge and get himself situated on Earth.

* * *

Sarah stopped in her tracks and stared in shock at the person seated near the exit at Starbucks.

The man in question was of slim built but yet muscular, wearing blue jeans and a white T-shirt. She guessed he was in his late 30s. He was looking down at his phone with an expression on his face as if he couldn't quite figure something out, medium-short blonde hair falling across his forehead. Something about him was awfully familiar, her heart was hammering like crazy in her chest and she found herself unable to move.

He must have realized someone was gaping at him because he lifted his head and looked back at her with mismatched eyes.

Upon seeing his eyes, Sarah felt like she was about to pass out and her vanilla latte slipped out of her hand and onto the floor. Frozen in shock and something else, something unidentifiable, maybe fear, maybe desire, maybe both, she stared at him and then at the floor.

Crap. "Pull yourself out of this, Sarah," she admonished herself. "Don't make a scene. The dreams are NOT real. Nobody knows about them. This guy just reminds you of the Goblin King. He's not real."

The blonde guy was now in front of her, picking up her dropped Starbucks cup. Spilled coffee was everywhere. She felt herself turning bright red.

An employee had gotten a bunch of paper towels and was cleaning up her mess. "I'm really sorry!" she apologized to him.

He smiled back at her, "No worries. It happens."

She was ignoring HIM on purpose. The guy who looked like the Goblin King from her dreams. Unfortunately, she had to acknowledge him. He had tried to help.

Slowly she lifted her head and looked him in the eyes. "Thanks for picking up the cup." As she turned around to leave she heard his deep voice. Slightly accented, as if he was British. "Sarah?"

She froze. It couldn't be. How did he know her name? But then it quickly dawned on her. She was on TV. He was probably a fan. Of course. Mystery solved.

"Hey, sorry, did you want a picture or autograph?", she did a 180 and gave him her most dazzling smile.

His brow furrowed and he shook his head. "No, I thought you might have recognized me. We met a long time ago but you might not remember me."

Her face turned chalk-white and her hands started shaking. "We've never met," she said way too quickly, voice breaking. Trying once again to gain her composure, she gave him another one of her smiles but realized that it probably looked more like a forced grin. "You have me confused with somebody else."

In her panic, she practically ran out of Starbucks and did not stop until she had reached Santa Monica pier. It was getting cooler and people were leaving the beach. Thankful to be able to find a non-crowded spot, she sat close to the shore and looked out over the ocean.

Something was terribly wrong with her. She KNEW she had never met him but yet something in her subconscious seemed to suggest otherwise. She felt an overwhelming sense of loss and a host of very contradictory emotions. Hate. Love. Fear. Desire. Sadness.

Tears trickled down over her cheeks and she quickly wiped them away. This was ridiculous. She was crying over dreams. Maybe she should finally see a shrink.

She hadn't noticed anybody approaching and slightly jumped when somebody sat down next to her. It was him. Absolutely fucking fantastic. He had followed her.

"Are you stalking me? Leave me alone!" she confronted him, anger glinting in her eyes.

He just looked at her, pain flickering over his face.

"You do remember me, don't you?"

"No, I don't!" More tears started streaming down her face.

"Then why are you crying?"

"I don't know, ok?" she yelled. His face had concern written all over it. Suddenly she had a realization. "Hold on, why would you think that crying is an appropriate response to seeing you?" she questioned him.

"I didn't say that. I honestly don't know how you would react at all. This is better than what I expected."

She huffed. "Oh really? What did you think would happen? What did you do to me that you'd think crying is a good response?"

His face already pale face lost the rest of it's color and he stared at the horizon. For about a minute he did not speak at all and simply regarded the orange sky that indicated the fast approaching sunset.

"I thought you wouldn't remember me at all," he finally whispered nearly imperceptibly. "But somehow you do remember something even though you deny it."

"Why would I not remember? I haven't had an accident or anything like that which would give me amnesia. Memories can't just be taken away."

He looked into her eyes. "Except they can where I'm from."

A shiver went down her spine. The Goblin King of her dreams was from a world where magic was real. He couldn't possibly be the Goblin King, could he?

He certainly looked like him even without wild hair and shimmering face. Just like when he had visited her on Halloween and tricked her into the Underground.

Except that he had been hurt and hadn't done it one purpose. She wasn't too sure when that had happened as her dreams didn't seem to be in any chronological order. But he did have had pointy ears back then... A rash plan suddenly manifested in her brain. She had to check something to confirm her theory. Before she could change her mind she cupped his cheek with her hand. An unexpected wave of desire and tingling coursed through her skin and she nearly dropped her hand out of sheer surprise. He leaned into her touch, his pupils widened and she felt an overwhelming urge to kiss him. Before she could act upon this longing, she quickly moved her hand, pushed his hair behind his ears and experienced a wave of disappointment when she discovered that they were just ordinary human ears.

Quickly, she shoved herself away from him. How in the world had she even entertained the notion that he was the Goblin King?

A range emotions crossed his handsome face, hurt, fear, regret, they all flashed so fast that she could not read them all. He quickly arranged his face back into a mask as she stood up and was trying to leave.

In a last minute attempt to get her to listen he called after her, "Sarah! Wait!"

She turned around and looked at him, her face serious and the tone of her voice giving him a harsh warning. "You need to leave me alone. I will call the police if you don't stop following me. Am I making myself clear?"

"I had my ears clipped. To blend in. They were pointy. I'm fae," he shouted in desperation, willing for her to hear him, uncaring as to who would overhear his confession.

Sarah stared at him in absolute shock and felt like somebody had poured a bucked of ice cold water over her. Of all the things he could have said, she had not expected this. She had just about convinced herself that he was a crazed fan who was playing with her and that the similarity to the Goblin King was nothing but coincidence.

She took a few steps towards him, looked him straight into the eyes and asked the one question that she knew would most likely make her carefully constructed reality crumble.

"What's your name?"

"Jareth. I used to be the Goblin King from a world you call the Underground."

Dizziness overcame her nearly immediately at hearing his name and title, she felt like she couldn't breathe and the world became a blur. Her knees gave out and everything faded to black as she fell towards the soft sand.

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	22. Chapter 22

Thank you everybody for the reviews. I still get excited about reading each one. Recent events in the USA have killed my muse but I am finally back after a week of depression and caught up on my writing. Still sad though. I also might have just lost some readers with this confession ...

For those of you who fear I might not continue writing this story, I have promised myself to finish it so bear with me.

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Concerned mismatched eyes met hers when she opened her eyes. What had just happened? She blinked a couple of times, trying to bring herself up to speed.

Memories of the past hour flooded her awareness. It couldn't be real! There was no way, was there?

She suddenly noticed whose lap she was lying in and sat up in panic.

"Are you ok, Sarah?"

Was she ok? Hell no. None of this was ok. Obviously she had finally lost her mind.

"No, no I'm not. I'm going insane," she cried, pushing away from him.

"You're not insane, precious."

"Don't call me that! I don't even know you!" she spat.

Pain once again flashed over his face and he simply looked at her for maybe half a minute. Taking a deep breath he replied softly, "Then, why did you pass out when I told you my name?"

She stared back at him, speechless. He had made an excellent point. Her eyes started burning with unshed tears and too afraid to show them she glared straight at him making sure to not blink as to not reveal her confused emotions.

"I don't remember you! I ..., " she trailed off, furiously trying to stop herself from crying.

"You what?" he asked gently.

Damn him! Why did he have to be so nice right now. He had followed her. No. Stalked her. He shouldn't even be here! She felt like screaming. Something was so utterly wrong and she couldn't put her finger on it. It was driving her insane up to the point where she finally broke.

"I have those recurring dreams! I had them for years. Nearly every night. And you are in them. But they don't even happen in this world. There is magic involved! Are you happy now? Did you want to hear that I'm insane?" she sobbed and yelled at the same time. "It doesn't make any sense! Magic isn't real! You are just a normal guy and not him. None of this is real!"

Jareth pulled her towards him and started stroking her long hair. After some initial resistance she finally rested her head in the crook of his neck. Soon, she began weeping as all of her suppressed feelings were finally coming out. He wrapped his arms around her as she let herself feel a pain she had not even known existed.

After a couple of minutes of crying her heart out she pushed away from him experiencing deep embarrassment.

"Sorry, I don't know what overcame me," she mumbled.

"It's ok. Don't worry. You are undergoing a mental disconnect due to your suppressed memories."

"My suppressed memories? What do you mean by that?"

Images of herself in a glittering silvery ballgown and a drugged peach came to her mind and her heart started racing. Something like this had happened previously! Before she could stop herself, sharp hurtful words came out of her mouth.

"You took my memories away! You drugged me!" she accused.

He cringed. "I did not take your memories away!"

"But you did drug me." It wasn't a question.

His face turned chalk white and she took it as an admission.

Shaking her head hoping it would give her a clear mind, she started walking away. "I have to go. This is all crazy."

"Sarah! Wait! It was my job to distract you!"

She was already half way to the pier when his words registered and she stopped. It hadn't even been only his words but something else deep within her that told her that there was more to the story.

She turned around and looked at him. He had run after her and had nearly reached her but had stopped when she had.

"Do my dreams show me what happened in the past?" she asked him.

"Probably," he replied softly. "I can't tell for sure as I don't know what they are. You were never supposed to remember. It's a small miracle that you even have dreams."

"This is all too much right now. I need to be alone and figure this out. Don't follow me again!" she warned.

He nodded.

She started away from him again and suddenly froze. There was no way she could just leave him for good and not get more answers out of him. That was the rational part of her. The irrational part wanted to turn around and jump into his arms this very second. But she couldn't give in to the part although she could listen to the other one.

Turning around one last time, she watched him as he stood on the beach, head bowed and eyes cast downwards.

"How can I get hold of you, just in case?"

He looked up at her, amazement clearly shown on his face.

"I'd give you my phone number, but I haven't quite worked out how to use this thing yet," he admitted.

"But, how? I mean, I saw you playing with it at Starbucks..."

"That's exactly what it was. I was 'playing' with it. I have absolutely no idea how this works. I know it's supposed to be a phone and I remember how they were back when I was here last time. This, THING, however, is complicated and I cannot figure it out," he declared in frustration.

Sarah suppressed a giggle at his outburst. "How did you even end up with one?"

He sighed. "Everybody here has one. That's all you humans actually do. You don't just talk on it while you are walking around, you stare at it while walking. What are you even looking at?"

"Pokémon Go?" Sarah interjected.

Jareth gave her a blank stare. "Poké what?"

"Nevermind," she uttered, smothering a laugh.

He glared at her being pretty sure she was making fun of him. "Anyway, I was trying to buy food and ended up in this store called 'Apple'. Except it didn't sell any apples or anything edible but only these THINGS everybody keeps running around with!"

There was no way she could hold back her grin any longer. It was just too funny.

His face revealed a split second of what looked like embarrassment and dejection before shutting down and presenting a mask.

"I'm sorry! It's just, you are so oblivious to things that are completely normal around here! Jareth?"

He looked utterly lost and vulnerable after her words and her heart clenched.

"You only called me that a few times ... you never wanted to get close to me. It was always Goblin King," he whispered.

She paled. Although her memory was jumbled with dreams that had no exact timeline attached to them she somehow knew that what he had said was the truth.

"I'm at the Viceroy. Room 359 under the name Jared Morgan," he said quietly, breaking the silence.

Sarah nodded. For some reason she wanted to go to him, hug him and comfort him. But now was not the time. She needed to be alone and adjust to all this new information.

He stared back down at the sand looking lost and vulnerable. Wind tangled his hair and blew it into his eyes. It didn't seem to bother him as he didn't pay any attention to anything except keeping focus on the spot of beach in front of him.

Shit.

She knew he wasn't doing too well and hated herself for not going to him. Turning around, she practically ran off the beach and didn't stop until she had reached her nearby apartment complex.

Tears streaming down her face, she slammed the door of her place shut and threw herself onto her sofa, glad to escape into her own private world far away from prying eyes. Her entire life had been thrown out of balance.

Magic was real. Other worlds were real. Her dreams were real. She was shocked and happy at the same time. Happy that she wasn't insane. Giddily happy that HE had found her while at the same time thinking she was crazy to believe anything that had happened recently was even real.

Grabbing a pillow she curled up into the fetal position and sobbed until she fell into an uneasy sleep.

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A loud knock on the door of his hotel room shock Jareth out of his day dreams. He ran a hand through his hair and blinked. It had gotten dark outside while he had been lost in his thoughts. He set down the glass of scotch he'd been holding and went to open the hotel room door. It was most likely one of the cleaning ladies again trying to "turn down" his bed.

Why they kept ignoring the "Do Not Disturb" sign was beyond him. How difficult was it to pay attention to a sign? Apparently extremely difficult. All he wanted was peace and quiet and they were adamant about cleaning his room and preparing the bed for the night. This would be the third day in a row that they tapped on his door with their little room key cards. Every time they had been surprised that he was inside since it was the early evening. Santa Monica evidently was not the type of place for people to stay in their rooms.

He opened the door and was about to tell the cleaning lady that he once again did NOT require her services when his eyes fell on Sarah.

A very disheveled looking Sarah. She was still wearing the same clothes as earlier, her hair was tangled, her face white and her eyes red and puffy. Tear tracks were visible on her cheeks.

"I'm so confused. At everything. My entire world has been turned upside down. Other worlds are real and so is magic. I don't understand how this is possible. But above all, I cannot stop thinking of you. I don't care about any of this other stuff. Well, I do want to understand it but I can't get you out of my head. I just want to be with you," she babbled before he could even greet her.

He watched her turn beet red at her confession and didn't know how to respond. It was everything he had wanted for so long but at the same time he knew that they still had a long way to go and he did not want to scare her away.

Taking his stunned silence for rejection she mumbled, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. We hardly know each other. I have to go."

Before she could turn away from him he grasped her arm and stopped her from leaving.

"Sarah. Don't go," he pleaded. "Please."

She looked into his face, expecting to see some type of mockery. Instead she saw hope, his eyes imploring her to stay.

Stay and then what, she wondered? He somehow scared her and she wasn't even too sure why. Probably because of some suppressed memory. But she was drawn to him more than she feared him.

There was no way she could go back to her normal life, knowing what she had found out today and just go on living as if this knowledge didn't exist. She had to go down the rabbit hole.

When she was honest with herself, all she wanted right now was to be in his arms again. And by again she did not mean the time at Santa Monica beach. It was some other time she was referring to. A time she did not even know when or where it had happened. How long ago had it actually been? Since her nightmares and dreams had started? But that had been about 20 years! He still looked the same as in her dreams. How was any of this possible?

"Sarah?"

She whimpered and threw her arms around his neck. Jareth pulled her into his room and let the door fall shut. He could hardly believe that she was with him. She had actually said she wanted to be with him. Her words kept repeating in his mind as he returned her embrace and caressed her long hair.

They lost track of time hugging each other in his hotel room. Jareth kept stroking Sarah's face, whispering to her how everything would be alright and she kept holding onto him as if she was drowning.

Neither remembered how they eventually ended up on top of his bed, facing each other, foreheads slightly touching and holding hands. Looking into each others eyes, their lips were so close that they could have kissed had one just taken a leap of faith and moved their head a fraction forward. But neither dared and lying within each other's embrace, sleep soon took hold.

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Please review!


	23. Chapter 23

"No! Please don't!" the woman cried in despair. She was stunning and in the prime of her life, her long, platinum blonde hair was pulled away from her face by intricate braids, showing off her pointed ears. But her external beauty did nothing to hide her internal pain. Pleading, her pale face looked up at the council with eyes that were red and puffy from shedding tears. Dark circles around them indicated that she hadn't slept in days. Her imploring look was only met with emotionless stares. "Please don't do this. He has done nothing to deserve it. He's an innocent. You can't just punish him!" She clenched her jaw, ignored the treacherous burning in her eyes and defiantly glared back at the Council, ready to launch another verbal tirade.

A tall man cloaked in a black hood stepped forward and scrutinized her for a couple of seconds, his eyes glowing ominously silver beneath his hood. "Silence!", he finally commanded with a strong, deep voice that even unsettled and disconcerted the invited observers with it's vehemence.

The shock of his voice and presence made her keep quiet despite her churning emotions. She bit down on her lips and blinked back tears.

"The High Council has spoken and has issued it's verdict. The son of the traitor has come of age and will take the traitor's role as it was decreed 13 years ago. The traitor will be removed immediately, executed and his son will take over his place for the rest of his long life."

"You monsters!" she screamed, long white blonde hair whipping around her face as several officials grabbed her by her waist and shoulders to prevent her from attacking the High Council. "How can you do this? What is wrong with you? He isn't even an adult yet!" she sobbed.

"Mom!" the 13 year old boy yelled in panic as she was dragged away from the amphitheater. "Don't worry, it will be ok!"

"Jareth! I love you! Remember that I love you!"

"Mom!", voice shaking he called out one last time just before the man in the black hood hit him across the face with his open hand. Not expecting the blow, he fell to his knees, her last words reverberating in his ears as the ceremony that invited dark magic into Tír na nÓg began. He tried to stand up but the council members had already formed a circle around him and were chanting in the ancient language of the fae that had been long forgotten by it's contemporary descendants.

An ice cold heavy weigh settled around every part of Jareth's body. He felt frozen to the ground, his limbs no longer cooperating and panic bubbled up in his throat thinking he might be paralyzed. Like liquid lead, the spell's glacial tendrils seeped into his bones and muscles making breathing impossible. Darkness encroached into his vision as his brain was struggling with oxygen deprivation.

It was over as quickly as it had started. He could breathe again and although he hadn't noticed, his heart had stopped and had started beating again. But the dark magic was not yet done with him. It had gone deeper into him, past his muscles and had penetrated every single cell of his body. And it didn't stop there. He could no longer feel it's paralyzing effects but somehow knew that it was still inside him.

It was becoming part of him. It had percolated into the center of every single one of his cells. Infiltrated his very core and became part of it, wrapping it's icy prison around something deep within him that he himself could not identify. But the magic had found what it was looking for and firmly locked that part of him away.

A thick liquid ran across his check from his left eye. At first he thought it was a tear but when he wiped it away, his hand was smeared with red. He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, hoping the ritual was finished.

His respite did not last very long. The Council Members had stopped chanting but instead bright glowing energy flowed to their hands where it took the ominous form as an obsidian black sphere. In unison, they raised their hands and threw the crystals at him. He crouched in front of them, protecting his head but the impact he expected never came.

Instead, the spheres coalesced and transmuted into a black haze that rushed towards him. He tried to fight it. He really did. But it was useless. The smoke enveloped him and invaded his body via his mouth and nose. It flowed into his brain and inserted itself deep within. Inside a part that allowed him to say no to commands. To wishes. Certain wishes. Slavery. Invisible shackles fastened around his very being.

He had been wrong when he had told his mother that everything would be alright. It wasn't and it wouldn't be.

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He woke up with a start, his breathing ragged, sweat glistening on his face. Nightmares were nothing new to him but he hated this one in particular. The worst part about it was that it was more than just a regular nightmare. It was real and the terrifying memory would not leave him alone, not even at night. Nightmares usually were just that, nightmares. But the worst nightmares were the ones that were actually real upon waking.

Slowly he remembered where he was. A different realm. Earth. No magic existed here unless it was brought from his world and then it would lose it's power within a few hours. He was free. As often as the nightmare occurred, this was the first time that he woke up from it and he was no longer a slave.

Turning his head, he locked eyes with her. The girl who had given him hope. The girl who he has in love with.  
Sarah.

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Strange eyes stared at her, nearly unblinking. Her heart hammered in her chest. What now? Should she say something? Get up? Move away from him? Nothing seemed right except looking back at him.

He looked slightly stressed. Blonde hair was plastered to his forehead. Frantic breathing. Wide eyes. As if he had just woken up from a bad dream.

Maybe he had. She wasn't sure what to say or how to act.

Blink. Dark lashes swooping over shining, wide eyes. She had just spent the night with a complete stranger. Not that she never had one night stands before but this was completely different. There had been no sex. But what really disturbed her that she thought she knew him - from her dreams no less - and had decided to follow her gut and trust that he was telling the truth. She was insane. Except that her instinct told her she wasn't.

It was now or never. They were standing at the proverbial crossroads and the next few minutes would decide which way they would go.

She could get up and return to her own apartment. That thought made her stomach clench. No. Turning away from him was the wrong choice. She needed to stop fooling herself, considering as if there was any other option.

She had to face her fear. Her stomach revolted. Butterflies. She had butterflies in her stomach. Although similar, they were better than actual stomach cramps.

Now or never.

She kissed him. Softly. Her eyes stared wide into his and her heart felt like it was about to jump out of her chest.

His lips were so soft. The touch caused hers to tingle ever so slightly. Please. Return the kiss, she silently begged. She couldn't bear if he pushed her away.

Her wishes were granted when she felt him respond ever so gently. As if he was afraid to scare her off.

Why in the world did she feel so attracted to him? She had just met him but if felt like she had known him for years. And the craziest part was that according to him it had been years.

He deepened the kiss and she responded in kind, slipping out of her reverie. Her body felt like it was on fire starting from her lips and stretching out to her fingers and toes. She felt like she was breathing air for the first time in a very long time. No kiss had ever been like this. She was clutching at his shoulders, pulling him further towards her. His kiss was like drinking water after walking through the hot desert for hours. Had she not been breathing for years? Drinking water for years?

Suddenly, bright spots of light flooded her vision, conglomerating into nonsensical images that in turn arranged themselves into minuscule stories, no, memories, which kept replaying in front of her retinas. Panicking, she scooted backwards, away from him.

The images rearranged themselves into longer memories. No. They had always been her memories, she just hadn't remembered except in her dreams. It was all true.

And he was the villain. He stole children for a living. What kind of insane person does that? He had returned after ten years and tricked her into saying the words to trap her into his world. Somehow he had had a bout of conscience and had sent her back home but for whatever reason he had returned.

She started hyperventilating.

"You can't take Toby back. Or me for that matter. I will fight you tooth and nail."

He stared at her in complete shock. She was remembering. Except that her memories of him weren't good at all. He thought they had gotten through most her doubts just before she had been transported back home.

He couldn't do this anymore. It had been too long. Thirty years for her of which she did only remember ten, but for him it had been more than thirty years thanks to dimensional time differences and he remembered them all. The pain was too much to bear.

"Sarah. Sarah. Listen to me. I'm not here to take either Toby or you back to my world! Please believe me!" She made no move towards him but only stared back at him with utter revulsion and fear. His heart broke. He had to get out of there. Wide-eyed, she watched as he got up, grabbed his wallet and hotel room key and walked towards the door.

"It's been too long for me Sarah. I can't do this anymore. I know you don't understand what I mean by that and what has been really going on but if you want to find out, I'll be downstairs by the pool. If you don't ever want to see me again, that is fine as well. I will leave you alone."

"His stark white face and slightly shaking voice tormented her conscience with twinges of concern as he turned and walked out of the room.

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	24. Chapter 24

He was sitting at the far back of the pool area. Drunken people milled around, smoking cigarettes, drinking wine and not paying any attention to either of them. She was glad everybody seemed to be minding their own business. It was late at night, nearly 1:30am and the party was winding down.

Smoking a cigarette while leaning back in a chair behind the pool, covered by foliage and palm trees, he did not see her approach.

"Goblin King?"

Wincing after hearing his former title, he looked up, frowned and stated in a hollow voice, "I did not think you would come."

"I need answers. Right now. That's all."

"Do you now?" His face was a perfect mask, void of any emotions. Slowly, he reached for a glass of dark liquid that rested on the table in front of him, took a deep sip and lent back in the chair again.

His nonchalant behavior made her blood boil. Who did he think he was?

"Yes. I do as a matter of fact." She snatched the cigarette out of his hand, threw it on the floor and stamped it out. "Did you not know smoking is bad for you?"

Crap. She was now acting like his mother. What in the world had made her do that? And why did she even care if he died of lung cancer? Fucking baby-napper. Liar. Trickster.

No. Not liar. He can't lie. That's what he had told her. He could have lied about that though. Didn't matter either way. Tricking people was wrong.

His eyes gleamed and he snarled at her. Not like an animal but it was sort of similar and it was clear he did not like her taking the upper hand.

Smirking as if he had won a bottle, he continued glaring at her. Despite his modern clothes consisting of dark jeans, a grey shirt and black boots, he yet managed to look completely otherworldly. Not that anybody would actually question his appearance. They would just stare and feel that something was different. But deep down in their bones they recognized that something was not quite right. Except they couldn't put their finger on it and they would discard their errant thoughts pretty soon and move on, never quite understanding what they had encountered and in the end forgetting was the simplest option.

"Answer me!" she demanded.

His smirk grew wider. "Your question?"

Her jaw clenched from seething. The arrogant bastard! Why couldn't he just give her a straight answer!?

"Stop being obnoxious! You know exactly what I'm asking!"

His face was an unreadable mask, void of any emotion. "You never asked a proper question, precious?'

She groaned. How could anybody be this annoying? She barely knew him but yet felt an extraordinary amount of irritation. As well as something else. Something, well, no. She rather not think about that.

"I want to know why you are here. After 30 years! Answer me, Goblin King!" she spat. His face continued to be blank and unreadable.

Suddenly, images floated back into her mind. New York, 20 years ago. A Halloween party at an upscale club. He had been there and had confronted her. Followed her outside. Her head was spinning and she focused on the palm tree in front of her so she wouldn't pass out from the sensations.

"You had come back before!" Sarah exclaimed, hands so tightly clenched her knuckles had turned white. For a split second she literally saw red.

His face was a perfect mask. Porcelain skin, chiseled cheekbones, thin lips that seemed to sneer at her.

There was no reaction from his part. She waited. Seconds passed. A minute. Maybe more.

Just as she was about to leave and return to her world, no, her apartment - this was crazy thinking, she was in her world - he answered.

"I am not the Goblin King."

"Of course you are!" she screamed. Her chest was heaving. Why was he getting to her? Bastard.

She glared at him. The lying rat.

Except, he couldn't lie, could he? Well, that's what he had told her after all. Which could have been a lie.

"Really? You are not the Goblin King? Pray tell. What are you if not the Goblin King?" she hissed with hint of mocking in her tone.

The perfectly white mask of his face did not move. His face looked nearly skeletal, it's high cheekbones gleaming with an otherworldly sheen and she shivered involuntarily. Had her words even registered?

His strange eyes fixed on her, "I am Jareth Morgalad."

She huffed in exasperation. "Goblin King, I couldn't care less for your name. Tell me why you are back!"

He winced, squared his jaw and glared at her. She narrowed her eyes. Really? What was his deal? He kept on playing with her and she needed to get the upper hand.

But what if he wasn't playing games? Something stopped her from simply getting up and leaving. Damn it. Was it the hurt glint in his eyes? Or her own feelings?

Stop. Say what? Her feelings? Where had that come from? He was a baby-napper who had stalked her for approximately 30 years.

Suddenly another memory returned. A lake. Shimmering like a thousand stars. Twilight approaching. A slim figure illuminated by the very first rays of the sun. Hugging it's knees. Face pressed against it's thighs. Male. Wild white blonde hair floating as if charged with electricity.

Jareth.

Her heart went out to him at the image broadcast in her mind and she took in a sharp breath of air.

What had happened that had made the mighty Goblin King lose face?

She didn't know. It was an epiphany. Huge chunks of her memories were still missing.

The worst part was that she had thought she had remembered all.

There was the wish she had spoken for the goblins to take her brother away. She cringed.

Then she had defeated the Goblin King with the help of other beings - Hoggle came to mind - in his labyrinth.

Then 10 years later he had unsettled her when he had suddenly shown up in New York and she had told him to get lost.

The next memory that overcame her made her shiver in self hatred and fear.

She quickly glanced at him, making sure he was alright. Of course he was. This was the present, not the past.

How could she have pushed him in front of a car? She felt faint and hugged her knees reminiscent of his earlier posture in her memory.

Please, somebody, stop this mental torture!

The memories skipped forwards, missing several important occurrences. How she knew she did, she wasn't sure. All she was certain of was that she had just jumped over very significant events.

A dark promise she would never return home again and laughter. Her stomach churned and she gasped for air. A strangled sobbing noise came from her throat.

"Sarah?", his concerned voice snapped her out of being lost in her recollections that kept flashing behind her eyes.

It was all too much. She felt like she was going insane.

"I was told I had been raped. But I started it." she choked out, unshed tears brimming her eyes. "And I was pregnant."

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